In this section

AMESBURY

Amesbury is a small town 12 km. north of
Salisbury (fn. 1) at the centre of the eponymous parish, in which Stonehenge stands. (fn. 2) In the Middle
Ages it had a wealthy nunnery; (fn. 3) in the 20th
century it grew, stimulated by nearby military
camps, a railway, and an increase of road traffic
through it. (fn. 4) The parish is large, extending 10.5
km. east-west and measuring 2,402 ha. (5,936
a.), and the Christchurch Avon meanders north—
south across the middle of it. In the Middle Ages
there were four settlements, Amesbury town and
Ratfyn hamlet east of the river, and the hamlet
now called Countess and the small village of
West Amesbury west of it; Amesbury's lands
were in the south and east parts of the parish,
those of the other settlements in the north—east,
north-west, and south-west parts respectively. (fn. 5)
In 1086 Ratfyn was not in the large estate called
Amesbury, as the other parts of the present
parish almost certainly were, (fn. 6) and later had its
own chapel, but by the early 15th century, when
its inhabitants lacked rights of burial and baptism in their chapel, (fn. 7) it had evidently been
added to Amesbury parish.

The parish boundary crosses gently sloping
downland for much of its length, in few places
corresponds with the relief, and is nowhere
intricate. It follows the Avon for short distances
north and south. On the downs some prehistoric
features were adopted as boundaries: a barrow
marks the south-west corner of the parish, another is at the elbow in the west boundary, a
ditch marks the boundary in the south—east, and
barrows, a ditch, and the north bank of the
earthwork called the Cursus (fn. 8) mark parts of the
long north boundary. By the early 17th century
boundary mounds had been made in many
places (fn. 9) and one, on the south—east, was visible
in the 19th and 20th centuries; (fn. 10) by the 20th
century stones had been set up along the west
part of the northern boundary. (fn. 11) In the north-west the boundary was marked by a road which
disappeared in the 18th century. (fn. 12) To east and
west the straightnes of the boundaries with
Cholderton and Winterbourne Stoke suggest
formal divisions of the downland: the north section of the Winterbourne Stoke boundary is the
south end of a line which divides several other
pairs of parishes. To the south-east the use of
downland was disputed between Amesbury and
Boscombe in the 16th and 17th centuries; (fn. 13) by
1726, evidently to end the dispute, 36 a. had been
designated as common to both places; (fn. 14) and in
1866 the boundary between the two parishes was
defined by a line bisecting the common plot. (fn. 15)

Chalk outcrops over the whole parish. The
Avon has deposited alluvium and gravel on each
bank, and a tributary now dry has depositied a
tongue of gravel east of it in the coomb of which
part is called Folly bottom. A large area of gravel
on the left bank of the Avon provides the site
for the town. (fn. 16) The relief is gentle almost
throughout the parish. The highest point, a little
over 165 m., is in the north-east on the slopes
of Beacon Hill, the summit of which is in
Bulford. The lowest point, where the Avon
leaves the parish, is a little below 75 m. There
are some steep slopes near the river on its right
bank, and the largest expense of level ground in
the parish is at c. 100 m. west of Stonehenge.

From the Middle Ages to the 20th century
sheep-and-corn husbandry predominated
throughout the parish. Amesbury and West
Amesbury each had open fields and common
pastures, and Countess Court manor and Ratfyn
almost certainly had. In each case the arable was
on the chalkland nearest to the settlement, with
extensive downland pasture further east or west
and meadows beside the Avon. Large areas of
the downland pasture had been ploughed by the
early 18th century; more was ploughed in the
late 18th century or early 19th and in the mid
20th. (fn. 17) A small park between the river and the
town, encompassing the site of the nunnery, was
greatly extended west of the river in the 18th century. (fn. 18) In the early 20th century the flat downland
west of Stonehenge was used as an airfield, as
then and later was downland in the south-east. (fn. 19)

In 1086 the large estate called Amesbury included 24 square leagues of woodland. (fn. 20) Almost
certainly the woodland lay east of Salisbury near
West Dean, where woods called Bentley and
Ramshill were for long parts of Amesbury
manor, (fn. 21) or near Hurst (Berks.), where extensive
woodland was considered part of the manor in
the 14th and 15th centuries. (fn. 22) There was very
little woodland in Amesbury parish in the 18th
century. Some was in the small park in 1726,
more was planted in the western extension of the
park between 1735 and 1773. (fn. 23) Trees were
planted in various coppices after 1825, and in
1846 there were c. 150 a. of woodland. There
were 161 a. of woodland in 1910, about the same
in 1993: the largest areas were in the north-west
corner of the parish, Fargo plantation (50 a.)
planted 1825 x 1846, in part of the large park,
Vespasian's camp (49 a.) mostly planted 1735 x
1773, and in the east on Slay down, 18 a.
formerly furze or gorse. (fn. 24) The suggestion that
clumps of trees apparently standing in 1825
represented the disposition of ships at the battle
of the Nile (1798) (fn. 25) is implausible, since they are
likely to have been planted in the western extension of the park before 1778. (fn. 26)

Amesbury c. 1815

At its greatest extent Chute forest reached west
to the Avon, and the eastern part of Amesbury
parish was subject to the forest law in the late
12th century. By the mid 13th century the forest
had been restricted and excluded Amesbury, and
when its boundary was redefined in 1300 Amesbury was outside it. (fn. 27)

Roads. Amesbury is on a main road leading
south-west from London via Andover (Hants).
The road crossed the Avon in the town, turned
north-westwards, passed through the prehistoric
remains called Seven Barrows and along a section of the north-west boundary of the parish,
crossed Shrewton village north of its church, and
led via Warminster to Bridgwater (Som.) and
Barnstaple (Devon). A little west of the town a
road diverged from it and led west and south-west via Mere towards Exeter. (fn. 28) A road from
Chipping Campden (Glos.) via Marlborough to
Salisbury crossed the east part of the parish and
the London road on the downs, and an Oxford—Salisbury road via Hungerford (Berks.) crossed
the tip of the parish south-east of Beacon Hill. (fn. 29)
Between 1675 and 1773 a more westerly course
was adopted for the road from Hungerford,
which subsequently merged with the Marlborough road north of the parish: (fn. 30) its old course
across the parish remained a track in 1993. Other
roads led north and south from the town to link
the villages on each bank of the Avon, north
towards Marlborough and Devizes, south towards Salisbury. (fn. 31) That linking those on the
west bank crosses the river twice at Amesbury:
it is likely that soon after 1177 it was diverted
south—eastwards between the crossings to follow
the course of the London road through the
town. (fn. 32)

The Warminster and Barnstaple road was imparked and closed when the park was extended
westwards, possibly soon after 1735 but much
more likely c. 1761, (fn. 33) and its course to Shrewton
via Seven Barrows and the parish boundary has
disappeared. (fn. 34) The Amesbury turnpike trust was
created in 1761. In that year the London road
via Andover was turnpiked from Thruxton
(Hants) across Amesbury parish as far as the
town, west of the town the Mere road was
turnpiked as a continuation of it, and about then
construction of a new straight road from the
south end of Seven Barrows towards Warminster via Shrewton was begun. The new road was
not finished, and by 1773 a new straight turnpike
road towards Warminster via Maddington (now
part of an enlarged Shrewton village) had been
made: it diverged from the Mere road in the dry
valley called Stonehenge bottom and ran, where
almost certainly no road had existed before, very
close to the north part of Stonehenge. The roads
were disturnpiked in 1871. (fn. 35) The Andover—Mere
road increased in importance in the 20th century, and as part of the main London—Exeter
road was designated a trunk road in 1958; (fn. 36) a
new section to bypass the town to the north was
opened in 1970. (fn. 37)

Two other roads were turnpiked in 1761 and
disturnpiked in 1871. One, that later called
Countess Road and likely to have been diverted
soon after 1177, led on the west bank northwards
from the town as far as the boundary with
Durrington. The other led north from the London road at Folly bottom to Bulford and other
villages on the east bank, (fn. 38) and replaced a direct
lane to Bulford nearer the river and through
Ratfyn: (fn. 39) parts of the old lane were in use in
1993. The Marlborough road across the downs
declined in importance from 1835 when a
Marlborough—Salisbury road further east was
turnpiked: (fn. 40) in the 20th century two military
camps were built (fn. 41) on its line, and two parts of
it in Amesbury parish were tarmacadamed, that
linking Bulford camp to the London road, and
that serving Boscombe Down airfield from the
south. As that downland route declined in the
19th century a north—south route through the
town became more important. An Amesbury to
Old Salisbury road, consisting of a road leading
south from the town to the downs of Great
Durnford (in Durnford) and thence the old
Marlborough road, was turnpiked in 1835, and
in 1840 the road on the west bank of the Avon
was turnpiked from the Durrington boundary
northwards. Salisbury could thus be reached
from Devizes, Swindon, and Marlborough on a
turnpike road through Amesbury, where it
crossed the river and the London road: in Amesbury parish the road was disturnpiked north of
the river in 1871, south of it in 1876. (fn. 42) At the
south edge of the town a short eastwards diversion in a cutting was made for it in 1837 (fn. 43) and,
to avoid a bend, a short new section was made
there in 1974–5; (fn. 44) a new section through the
town was made in 1964–5. (fn. 45) South of Amesbury
the road to Salisbury on the west bank of the
Avon through West Amesbury was tarmacadamed and in 1993 remained in use. That on the
east bank went out of use between Amesbury
and Great Durnford after the road to Old Salisbury was turnpiked in 1835. (fn. 46).

In the 17th and 18th centuries roads led from
the town east and south-east to Newton Tony,
Idmiston, and Porton (in Idmiston), each in the
Bourne valley. (fn. 47) Part of the Idmistion road survives as Allington Way, and parts of the others
survive as tracks or footpaths. In the mid 20th
century all three roads were blocked by Boscombe Down airifield, a track across the east
part of the parish was improved as a road to link
Allington to the London road, and north to the
Bulford road, which had been turnpiked as far
as Folly bottom, Porton Road was improved to
link the airfield to the London road. (fn. 48) Also in
the mid 20th century a track across the south
part of the parish was improved as a road to
divert traffic between the airfield and Salisbury
westwards off the old Marlborough road and
away from the runways. (fn. 49)

A road called the Wiltway in 1428 and crossing
arable west of the Avon (fn. 50) was almost certainly a
north—south road leading towards Wilton and
was evidently closed when the park was extended soon after 1760. Further west
Stonehenge was on the line of a Netheravon—
Wilton road which may have been well used in
the 18th century (fn. 51) but was never tarmacadamed:
it was diverted west of Stonehenge in 1923. (fn. 52)

A road on the left bank of the Avon linking the
south end of the town to West Amesbury was called
the Wood way in 1502 and later, (fn. 53) and part of it was
a track in 1993, but an early 18th-century road from
West Amesbury across downland to Berwick St.
James disappeared, evidently before 1773. (fn. 54)

Railways. The Amesbury and Military Camp
Light Railway was built as a branch of the
London & South Western Railway from
Grateley (Hants) to Amesbury in 1902, diverging from the main line in Newton Tony parish.
A station and sidings were built east of the town
immediately south of the London road. The line
was extended under the road and via Ratfyn to
Bulford and Bulford camp in 1906. (fn. 55) A short
spur served Boscombe Down airfield from c.
1918 to 1920. From a junction at Ratfyn to
Druid's Head in Wilsford, via Larkhill army
camp in Durrington and across the north-west
tip of Amesbury parish, the Larkhill light military railway was opened in 1914–15: spurs were
made c. 1917 to serve Stonehenge airfield. The
railway was run from a camp in Countess Road.
Although military, it was available for some
public use. The spurs had evidently been dismantled by 1923 and the whole line had been
closed by 1928. The Newton Tony to Bulford
line was closed to passengers in 1952 and to
goods in 1963; the track was lifted in 1965. (fn. 56)

Stonehenge. On the downs west of the Avon
Stonehenge was constructed in phases in the
period c. 3100 B.C. to c. 1100 B.C. In the first a
roughly circular bank and ditch, 56 holes
arranged in a circle within and near the ditch,
and a cremation cemetery were dug, and outside
the circle several posts and stones were erected;
one of the stones, an undressed sarsen, is now
called the Heel stone. In the second phase
unworked bluestones brought from Wales were
set up as two unfinished circles within, and
concentric with, the bank and ditch, and an
avenue was made from a new entrance to the
circle: a line along the avenue connected the
centre of the circles to the point on the horizon
where the sun rises at the summer solstice. The
same line is the axis of the building constructed
in the third phase: the bluestones were removed,
five trilithons arranged on the plan of a horseshoe were erected, and, within and concentric
with the bank and encircling the trilithons, a
peristyle of 30 upright stones and 30 lintels was
built. The peristyle is exactly circular, c. 100 ft.
in diameter, and the upper surface of the lintels
is level. The stones are sarsens probably brought
from the downs near Avebury. At the junction
of the avenue and the bank two stones were set
up, a fallen one of which is now called the
Slaughter stone. Either in the second phase or
the third four sarsens were set up within and
near the bank on diameters intersecting at the
centre of the circle: the two to survive are now
called the Station stones. After the trilithons and
peristyle were built some of the bluestones were
arranged within the horseshoe to mark out an
oval which included trilithons; later they were
reset as a shadow of the main building, as a
horseshoe within the horseshoe of sarsen trilithons, and as a circle between that and the
peristyle. Within both horseshoes a single
dressed sarsen was set up and, fallen, is now
called the Altar stone. The purpose of the
building is most likely to have been ceremonial,
but 20th-century students have shown it to be
capable of use in astronomy. Of c. 162 stones
forming part of the building when the final phase
was completed c. 60 were in situ in 1993, and
some fallen stones survived in whole or in part.
Among known historical monuments the use of
materials brought from far away and the size and
sophistication of the trilithons and peristyle
make Stonehenge unique. (fn. 57)

Henry of Huntingdon mentioned Stonehenge
c. 1130, (fn. 58) and by the 16th century it was widely
known as an historical monument. It was visited
by James I in 1620, and about then George
Villiers, marquess of Buckingham, had an exploratory hold dug in the middle of it. (fn. 59) Inigo
Jones (d. 1652) investigated the architecture of
the building, John Aubrey's account was published in 1695, and William Stukeley made a
systematic study in the 1720s. The main archaeological excavations have been by William
Cunnington in the early 19th century, William
Gowland in 1901, William Hawley 1919–26, and
R. J. C. Atkinson, Stuart Piggott, and J. F. S.
Stone in the 1950s. (fn. 60)

The more widely knowledge of Stonehenge's
existence was disseminated the more it was
visited. The downland on which it stands was
open, although privately owned, and access was
unrestricted. (fn. 61) In 1770 the Amesbury turnpike
trust advertized its roads as good for viewing
Stonehenge, (fn. 62) and in the 19th century the monument became a destination of outings and a
venue of social events. (fn. 63) In 1901 the landowner,
Sir Edmund Antrobus, Bt., inclosed c. 20 a.
around it and began to charge for admission: his
right to do so was confirmed by the High Court
in 1905. Stonehenge was protected under the
Ancient Monuments Act from 1913. (fn. 64) Cecil
Chubb (cr. baronet 1919) bought it with 31 a.
in 1915. and gave it to the nation in 1918. (fn. 65) In
1919–20 stones in danger of falling were secured,
in 1958 stones which had fallen in 1797 and 1900
were re-erected, and later other stones were
secured in their positions. (fn. 66) To avoid the monument the Netheravon—Wilton road was diverted
westwards in 1923, (fn. 67) and to preserve the monument's environment the National Trust in 1927
and 1929 bought most of the west half of
Amesbury parish. (fn. 68) In 1984 Stonehenge and its
hinterland were designated a World Heritage
Site. (fn. 69)

The numbers of paying visitors grew from
38,000 in 1922, (fn. 70) to 124,000 in 1951, 666,000 in
1975, (fn. 71) and 650,000 in 1992–3. (fn. 72) Since 1978
visitors have not been allowed to go among the
stones. (fn. 73) Soon after 1918 a pair of cottages
south-east of the stones was built for the custodians, (fn. 74) and in 1927 a privately owned café was
built nearby. (fn. 75) In the 1930s both were demolished and a pair of thatched cottages, Stonehenge Cottages, was built 1 km. east beside the
Exeter road. On the north side of the Shrewton
road a car park was opened in 1935 (fn. 76) and extended in 1966; for access to the monument,
which is on the south side, an underpass was
built in 1968. (fn. 77)

From c. 1822 to c. 1880 Henry Browne and
his son Joseph, both of Amesbury, each acted
as a guide to Stonehenge and sold models and
paintings of it. (fn. 78) In the later 18th century and
early 19th visitors to the monument were
throught to be important to Amesbury's prosperity, (fn. 79) but later in the 19th most organized
excursions, including those by rail from London, were evidently via Salisbury. (fn. 80) In the 20th
century most visitors used motor vehicles, and
many also visited the town even after the
London—Exeter road bypassed it in 1970. There
were festivities in the town and at the monument
about the time of the summer solstice in the later
19th century; (fn. 81) at the monument such festivities
increased in the 20th century, and at the same
time quasi-religious ceremonies organized by
the Ancient Druid Order were held there. (fn. 82) The
festivities had become notorious by the 1980s
when the government (from 1984 English Heritage), as custodian of the monument, the
National Trust, as owner of the land on which
they took place, and the police combined to
prevent them. (fn. 83)

Other prehistoric remains. The western downs
of Amesbury parish are rich in prehistoric remains, (fn. 84) some older than Stonehenge. (fn. 85) The site
of a second henge monument 1 km. ESE. of
Stonehenge was identified in the 1950s and
partly excavated in 1980. (fn. 86) North of Stonehenge
the Cursus is an east—west earthwork enclosure
nearly 3 km. long and less than 150 m. broad: it
is thought to be late-Neolithic. A north—south
long barrow at the east end of the Cursus is
unusually large. (fn. 87) There are many other barrows. Notable groups are formed by those in a
line near the south side of the Cursus at its west
end, those in a line south of the east and of the
Cursus, and those South—West of Stonehenge. (fn. 88)
The southern part of the second group, where
seven barrows are close together, was called
Seven Barrows in the early 15th century (fn. 89) and
until c. 1900; (fn. 90) the whole line is now called King
Barrows. (fn. 91) A barrow called Luxen 1 km. south-east of Stonehenge seems to have been
particularly prominent in the 18th century. (fn. 92)
Prehistoric field systems have been recognized
west of Stonehenge. (fn. 93)

On the eastern downs of the parish there are
also many barrows; (fn. 94) one near the Allington
track was constructed c. 2020 B.C. and was altered
several times. (fn. 95) Six prehistoric ditches cross that
part of the parish or mark its boundary, (fn. 96) and
there is evidence of three prehistoric field systems, in the south along the boundary with and
extending into Durnford, in the east corner, and
in Folly bottom. (fn. 97)

Only one pre-Roman inhabited site in the
parish is known. On a hill on the right bank of
the Avon and near the town an Iron-Age hill fort
covers 37 a.; (fn. 98) the sides of the hill were called
the Walls in the 16th century and later, (fn. 99) the
whole hill Vespasian's camp from the 18th century or earlier. (fn. 100) A Romano-British settlement
site 1.5 km. east of Amesbury church was found
c. 1990. (fn. 101)

Population. The parish may have had c. 375
poll- tax payers in 1377: with Normanton in
Durnford parish it had 391. (fn. 102) The population in
1676 may have been c. 850. (fn. 103) In 1801, when it
was 721, the number of inhabitants may have
been at or near its lowest since the earlier Middle
Ages. It rose from 723 in 1811 to 944 in 1831.
The increase to 1,171 in 1841 was caused partly
by the opening of Amesbury union workshouse
in the parish in 1837–8; 106 lived in the workhouse in 1841. The population remained
between 1,100 and 1,200 from 1841 to 1881, but
had fallen to 981 by 1891. As the town grew from
c. 1900 the population of the parish increased
from 1,143 in 1901 to 1,253 in 1911; it doubled
between 1911 and 1931, and more than doubled
between 1931 (fn. 104) and 1961, when it was 5,611. It
was 5,684 in 1971, 6,656 in 1991. (fn. 105)

Military activity. Stonehenge airfield, with a
landing ground between the Shrewton and Exeter roads west of Stonehenge, was opened in
1917 for training bomber pilots, and hangars and
other buildings were erected north and south of
the Exeter road. The airfield was closed in 1920.
Some of the buildings were used for farming in
the 1920s but all had been demolished by the
1930s. (fn. 106)

On Blackcross down south-east of the town
Boscombe Down (initially Red House Farm)
airfield was opened in 1917 for training pilots.
Buildings had been erected by 1918 and were
extended in 1919, but the airfield was closed in
1920. It was reopened in 1930 with c. 283 a. in
Amesbury, additional land in Boscombe and
Idmiston, and buildings on which work was
begun in 1927. It was used mainly by bomber
squadrons until 1939, when the Aeroplane and
Armament Experimental Establishment moved
there. The buildings and landing ground were
in Amesbury parish but later the runways, of
which the first was started in 1944, were in
Boscombe and Idmiston. The Evaluation (formerly Experimental) Establishment was still at
Boscombe Down in 1992, and its main work was
still to test aeroplanes and weapons. The airfield
was greatly expanded after the Second World
War. Many new buildings were erected, especially in the 1950s, and adjoining land in
Amesbury and other parishes was acquired. By
1937 nine houses in Allington Way had been
erected for commissioned officers, four in Main
Road for Warrant officers, and 33 in Imber Road
and Main Road for airmen, (fn. 107) and after the
Second World War several housing estates were
built on the west side of the airfield. (fn. 108) The builtup area has acquired the name Boscombe Down.
A church was built but, unlike Bulford, Larkhill,
and Tidworth army camps, (fn. 109) Boscombe Down
has been provided with few commercial or social
facilities.

Sport. The Avon at Amesbury was evidently
much used for fishing and fowling in the 16th
century. (fn. 110) Parts of the river were several to the
lord of the Earldom manor and the Priory
manor, to his tenants, and to the lords of other
manors. (fn. 111) In the 1580s dace were netted at
certain times of the year. (fn. 112) Trout, crayfish, and
loach were caught in the 17th century, (fn. 113) and
trout from Amesbury were sold at Salisbury
market in the 18th. (fn. 114)

In the early 17th century the earl of Hertford
may have hunted deer from his house at Amesbury, (fn. 115) and Philip Herbert, earl of Pembroke and
of Montgomery, or his son Philip, Lord Herbert,
was among those hawking at Amesbury in
1640. (fn. 116) The fishing, fowling, hunting, and hawking were leased with the house in the late 17th
century and early 18th. (fn. 117) Kennels had been built
at the house by 1726. (fn. 118) In 1800 sporting rights
and the kennels, but not Amesbury Abbey, were
held on lease by Sir James Mansfield, a lawyer
and keen sportsman. (fn. 119) Hawking continued at
Amesbury until 1903 or later; the Old Hawking
club, formed in 1864, transferred its headquarters from Amesbury to Shrewton in 1903. (fn. 120)

Hares were coursed on the downs in the later
16th century. (fn. 121) Sir Elijah Impey, lessee of Amesbury Abbey 1792–4, was said to have favoured
coursing, (fn. 122) and in 1803 meetings for coursing
were held at Amesbury. (fn. 123) In the early 19th
century hares were said to be numerous (fn. 124) and
the coursing excellent. (fn. 125) The Amesbury coursing club was formed in 1822, the owner of the
land allowed hares to be preserved, and downland near Stonehenge and elsewhere in the
parish was regularly used for coursing. The
Altcar (Lancs.) club held a seven-day meeting
at Amesbury in 1864, (fn. 126) and the South of England
club later met at Stonehenge. (fn. 127)

Two cricket matches were played near Stonehenge in 1781, and in the early 19th century the
Stonehenge cricket ground was described as
beautiful and famous. Wiltshire played Hampshire on it in 1835. Amesbury had a cricket team,
and possibly a cricket club, in 1826. (fn. 128)

In 1728 the lord of West Amesbury manor
reserved the right to set up posts on a racecourse
near Stonehenge, (fn. 129) but there is no direct evidence of horseracing in the parish.

Amesbury. Its name suggests that Amesbury
was a stronghold of Ambrosius Aurelianus, a
leader of resistance against Saxon settlers in the
later 5th century. (fn. 130) It has been suggested that
the fort on the hil later called Vespasian's camp
was such a stronghold and that after c. 500 A.D.,
setting a precedent for Salisbury, settlement and
the name transferred themselves from the hilltop
to the present lowland site of the town. There
is, however, no archaeological evidence that the
hill fort was used for settlement as late as the
5th century. (fn. 131) It was believed in the late Middle
Ages, when an inscription in a book described
Amesbury priory as the monastery 'Ambrosii
burgi', that there was a link between Ambrosius
and Amesbury: (fn. 132) if the link existed, it is most
likely that Ambrosius's stronghold was where
the town is now.

The town to c. 1540. Amesbury, so called and
almost certainly on its present site, was a notable
settlement in the 10th century. The witan met
there in 932 and 995, (fn. 133) and Amesbury abbey was
founded c. 979. It is very likely that the abbey
was built on the site of the present parish church
and that, when the abbey was closed in 1177, its
church became the parish church. (fn. 134) The abbey
was replaced in 1177 by a priory belonging to
the order of Fontevrault, for which a new house
and a new church were built between then and
1186. The new buildings, grand enough for
some of the Angevin kings of England and their
close relatives to lodge and worship in, (fn. 135) were on
and around the site, north of the parish church,
now occupied by the house called Amesbury
Abbey. (fn. 136) To the north and west the site was
bounded by the Avon; to the north-east and
south-east it was evidently enclosed by a wall. (fn. 137)

Amesbury is at a crossing of the Avon by a
main road leading south-west from London (fn. 138)
and had become a small town, with a market and
with tenements called burgages, by the 13th
century. (fn. 139) The road evidently marked the southeastern boundary of the priory's precinct. When
the priory was built the north—south road linking
the villages on the west bank of the Avon, which
apparently led across what became the precinct
to the river crossing near the parish church, was
diverted to the north-east side of the precinct
and joined the main road at the east corner. (fn. 140)
From that corner to the river crossing the main
road was called High Street in 1364, (fn. 141) Marlborough Street in the 15th and 16th centuriesh, High
Street again later. (fn. 142) It was narrowed when,
presumably soon after 1177, buildings were
erected in the north-west half of it along the line
of the precinct boundary: the obstruction caused
by the buildings on the north-west side was still
apparent in the 18th century when the entrances
to High Street both from the London road and
from the river crossing were offset to the southeast. The main entrance to the precinct was
halfway along High Street on the north-west
side and, when that side of High Street was built
up, was approached between the buildings and
along what was later called Abbey Lane. (fn. 143) There
was apparently a second entrance immediately
west of the parish church. (fn. 144) Opposite Abbey
Lane, and opening from High Street, land was
used as a market place, evidently from the earlier
13th century, and by the 1540s a market house,
presumably the building which in the early 19th
century was open on the ground floor with a
room above, had been erected in the opening. (fn. 145)
The market place was evidently a long and
narrow triangle, with the market house at the
apex and the town pound at the centre of the
base; the line of the south side continued as the
west side of Southmill Lane (now Salisbury
Road), and the line of the north side remains as
the north side of Salisbury Street (formerly
Smithfield Street). (fn. 146) In the Middle Ages other
streets in the town were called Carpenter Street
(1321–1450), Pauncet Street (1332–8), (fn. 147) possibly
named after the Pauncefoot family which owned
West Amesbury manor, (fn. 148) and Frog Lane (from
1463). (fn. 149) The shops and shambles mentioned in
the 14th century, the 22 burgages held of Amesbury manor in 1364, the c. 50 cottages belonging
to the priory at the Dissolution, and the inns
mentioned in the early 16th century (fn. 150) are likely
to have stood in High Street and streets close to
it.

Amesbury the town in 1726

In the 18th century the principal farmsteads
in Amesbury stood away from High Street and
the market place along roads called Baker's Lane
(later Bakehouse Lane, later Earls Court Road)
and Southmill Lane. (fn. 151) Before the market place
was narrowed (fn. 152) the two roads were extensions of
its two long sides, and it is possible that the
farmsteads were built in each as a result of late
12th- or early 13th-century planning. The demesne farm buildings of Amesbury manor,
possibly on the site in Earls Court Road later
occupied by Earls Farm, included a long house
with hall, a gatehouse, and a large barn in 1364. (fn. 153)

The priory gave Amesbury most of its fame in
the Middle Ages. It was visited several times by
Henry III and frequently by Edward I whose
mother, daughter, and niece was each a nun
there. (fn. 154) Catherine of Aragon lodged there on her
journey to London in 1501. (fn. 155) The town itself
was a minor administrative centre. Hundred
courts were held there, (fn. 156) in 1491 a forest eyre
was held there, (fn. 157) and in 1537 Fisherton gaol was
delivered there. (fn. 158)

Except for the church no medieval building is
known to survive in the town.

The town c. 1540 to c. 1900. Most buildings
of Amesbury priory were demolished or unroofed in 1541–2. The prioress's house with its
service buildings, a stable, two barns, and two
gatehouses were spared. (fn. 159) The reference in a
lease of 1560 to dilapidated buildings and to
stone and lead in or around the walls of the
conventual church is likely to repeat the words
of a lease of 1542 and not to indicate, as has been
suggested, that demolition was postponed. (fn. 160) The
receiver's house, however, and a lodging for five
chaplains of the priory, both proscribed in
1539, (fn. 161) were among several other priory buildings standing c. 1574. (fn. 162) The receiver's house
stood in 1590. (fn. 163) Between 1595 and 1601 a new
mansion house was built on the site of the
priory, (fn. 164) and more of the old buildings are likely
to have been demolished: the lodging and possibly a gatehouse in Abbey Lane survived. (fn. 165) The
precincts of the new house were apparently those
of the priory, except that the south-east boundary was evidently set further back from High
Street: (fn. 166) Diana House and Kent House were
built at the north-east and east corners respectively, and as an access Abbey Lane may have
been closed. (fn. 167).

In the early 17th century there may not have
been many buildings between High Street,
which was probably built up on both sides, and
the principal farmsteads to the south-east. A
reference to the 'south place' at the north end of
Frog Lane suggests that building on the land
bounded on the west by Frog Lane and on the
south by Tanners Lane had by then not intruded
on the south-east part of the market place to
break the line to Southmill Lane. The Avon was
bridged at the south end of Frog Lane. (fn. 168) There
were many cottages in the town in 1635. (fn. 169) Some
may have been in Frog Lane, in Coldharbour,
so called in 1660, (fn. 170) and Back Lane, so called in
1678, (fn. 171) but only two apparently 17th-century
cottages, one in Frog Lane and one at the
south-west end of Coldharbour, survive as evidence. Dark Lane, referred to in 1676, (fn. 172), has not
been located.

Its position on a main route brought troops to
Amesbury in the Civil War and possibly in 1685
and 1688, but there was no fighting. In 1644
Robert Devereux, earl of Essex, was there with
a troop of 100 parliamentarians, (fn. 173) and in 1646
troops were apparently quartered at Countess
Court. (fn. 174) In 1685 Henry Mordaunt, earl of Peterborough, a supporter of James II, and in 1688
Major-Gen. Percy Kirk, then supporting William of Orange, may have had troops at
Amesbury. (fn. 175)

In 1726 there were buildings all along High
Street on both sides except where the graveyard
adjoined it. (fn. 176) Many of them standing c. 1735 were
of three storeys. (fn. 177) In 1726 the market place
remained wide at its west end and trees grew in
the middle of it. The south-east part had been
inclosed, reducing the east end to what was
called Smithfield Street. A smaller triangle of
open space remained where Baker's Lane and
Southmill Lane led from Smithfield Street.
Tanners Lane linked Southmill Lane and Frog
Lane. An almost unbroken line of houses, some
of them farmhouses, on the north side of the
market place and of Smithfield Street linked the
houses and inns in High Street to the principal
farmsteads in Baker's Lane and Southmill Lane.
Only one house stood on the south side of the
market place, two on the south side of Smithfield
Street. There were 66 houses and cottages on
the waste, 16 in Frog Lane (most on the west
side), 15 in Back Lane (most on the west side),
18 in Coldharbour (most on the south side), 12
in Baker's Lane, and 5 near the river at Southmill Green. There was also a group of buildings,
including one where Comilla House later stood,
outside High Street at its junction with Back
Lane and the London road. (fn. 178)

Between 1725 and 1778 the occupation by
Charles Douglas, duke of Queensberry, and his
wife Catherine of the mansion, (fn. 179) in which at one
time 49 servants were resident, (fn. 180) may have increased the prosperity of the town. In the same
period, however, the number of farmsteads was
much reduced, (fn. 181) and in 1751 a fire destroyed or
damaged c. 25 buildings, most of which seem to
have been in High Street. (fn. 182). In the late 18th
century and early 19th the town was evidently
in decline, (fn. 183) and in the later 19th road traffic
through it was reduced as railways were made
elsewhere. In 1809 the market house, also called
the guildhall, town hall, or court house, was
taken down, (fn. 184) and in 1812 there were vacant sites
on both sides of High Street towards the northeast end, (fn. 185) presumably where buildings
destroyed by fire in 1751 had not been replaced.

The south-west end of High Street was renamed Church Street between 1851 and 1878. (fn. 186)
Buildings of before c. 1800 to survive in High
Street include four or five houses of the 17th or
18th century, most with shops on the ground
floor, and the George and the New Inn. Those
of before c. 1800 in Church Street include two
apparently 18th-century houses, another possibly 17th-century, and the King's Arms. (fn. 187)
Comilla House is of the mid 18th century and
was possibly built c. 1761 when the London road
was turnpiked; in the 1980s it was extended and
converted to a nursing home. (fn. 188) On the north side
of the market place a house with a shop on the
ground floor is apparently 17th-century, and two
houses are apparently 18th-century; a small
house on the north side of what was Smithfield
Street may also be 18th-century. The former
line of the south side of the market place is still
marked by a house apparently built in the later
18th century to replace that standing in 1726. In
the earlier 19th century a terrace with a school
at each end was built in front of that line, and
the market place was thus narrowed. (fn. 189) In the
20th century a new building replaced the school
at the west end, and in 1993 five shops occupied
the remainder of the terrace. Between 1851 and
1878 the market place and most of Smithfield
Street were renamed Salisbury Street. (fn. 190).

In Earls Court Road (formerly Baker's Lane)
Earls Court (formerly Earl's) Farm was altered
and made smaller in the 20th century: its rear
wing, in which 16th-century timber was re-used,
is a fragment of an 18th-century house, and its
main range, facing the road, was built in the 19th
century. In Salisbury Road (formerly Southmill
Lane) Viney's (formerly Coombes Court) Farm
has a main north-west range with a south-east
cross wing and is apparently of the 16th century,
and the Red House is an early 18th-century
red-brick farmhouse with a principal five-bayed
west front to which a porch was added in the
19th century. Of the many cottages in Frog
Lane, Back Lane, Coldharbour, and Baker's
Lane and at Southmill Green c. 1800 (fn. 191) only the
apparently 17th-century cottages in Frog Lane
and Coldharbour, the Greyhound in Coldharbour, and a small thatched cottage in Earls Court
Road (Baker's Lane) survive. All the cottages on
the west side of Back Lane had been demolished
by 1851. (fn. 192)

Several large houses were built in the 19th
century. On the south-east side of High
(Church) Street Wyndersham House was built
in 1848. At both ends its street frontage incorporates 18th-century parts of the four tenements
which the house replaced: (fn. 193) between them a
substantial five-bayed house with a central
staircase hall and large rooms on the garden side
was built. The hall and the rear south-western
room were later extended into the garden, and
to the north-east the open space between the
house and its stables was roofed. In the later 19th
century the house was used as a school and a
vicarage house. (fn. 194) By 1923 it had been converted
to a hotel, the Avon; (fn. 195) the hotel was renamed the
Avon Arms and c. 1962 the Antrobus Arms. (fn. 196)
In the angle of Smithfield Street and Back Lane
the Cottage, later called Amesbury House, was
apparently built in the early 19th century and
had a principal front of five bays; it was demolished in the late 1960s. (fn. 197) Its stables, of red brick
and contemporary with the house, survive. The
Amesbury union workhouse was built in Salisbury Road, which was diverted east of it, in
1837: it was of flint and red brick to designs of
W. B. Moffatt, an associate of Sir Gilbert Scott. (fn. 198)
On the south-east side of High Street towards
the north-east end a house, in 1993 the Fairlawn
hotel, was built between 1825 and 1851 for G.
B. Batho, (fn. 199) and, in the angle of Frog Lane and
Tanners Lane, Redworth House, large and of
red brick, was built c. 1888 for W. Q. Cole. (fn. 200)

A toll house, of coursed flint with brick dressings, was built c. 1835 where, north of the
workhouse, the new section of the Salisbury road
diverged from the old, (fn. 201) which retained the name
Southmill Lane. Two pairs of cottages incorporating flint and stone chequerwork and with
cast-iron window frames were built on the north
side of Tanners Lane between 1825 and 1851. (fn. 202)
Also in the 19th century several cottages were
built in Coldharbour, a terrace of six cottages
was built in Parsonage Road, which linked Earls
Court Road and Salisbury Road, and two houses
were built at Southmill Green. Frog Lane and
Tanners Lane were together renamed Flower
Lane between c. 1877 and 1899. (fn. 203)

On farmland worked from the town several
farmsteads were built between 1825 and the late
1870s. Those called the Pennings and Stockport,
respectively east and south of the town, had been
built by 1851 and included cottages. New Barn
and Olddown Barn were built south-west of the
town, and Beacon Hill Barn, near which two
houses were built between 1923 and 1939, was
built in the east corner of the parish. (fn. 204)

The town from c. 1900. Although small, Amesbury was the town nearest and most accessible
to the military camps set up in Bulford and
Durrington parishes c. 1899. (fn. 205) They, with later
military camps in Amesbury parish, the railway
opened in 1902, (fn. 206) and the increase in road traffic,
evidently stimulated business in the town. When
in 1915 most of the land in the parish was offered
for sale much became available for building and
was highly valued. (fn. 207) To accommodate those
employed in businesses in the town and the
civilians working at the camps, the town grew
much after 1918, mainly eastwards.

Between 1900 and 1914 a new school in Back
Lane, which was later renamed School Road,
replaced the schools on the south side of Salisbury Street. A police station, of red brick with
textured ashlar dressings, was also built in Back
Lane. (fn. 208) Between Redworth House and the east
side of Frog Lane two terraces of cottages, of 4
and of 8, were built, (fn. 209) and soon after 1911 a new
street, Edwards Road, was made between Earls
Court Road and Salisbury Road (fn. 210) and two trios
of cottages were built in it. Other new cottages
included three terraces of four in Earls Court
Road. (fn. 211) For railway workers a house and a pair
of cottages had been built at the site of the station
by 1899, and two pairs of cottages were built
there soon afterwards. (fn. 212)

Between 1918 and 1939 houses were built by
the government, by Amesbury rural district
council, and by private speculators. After the
First World War the Board of Agriculture and
Fisheries set up a farm colony east of the town
on Earls Court farm for former soldiers. (fn. 213) In
1919 Holders Road was made north—south from
where the London road crossed the railway to
Earls Court Road, and beside it c. 30 cottages
were built 1920–1 for the smallholders. The
Building Research Board of the Department of
Scientific and Industrial Research designed and
built three of the cottages there, and two in
Ratfyn Road, to test new methods of construction and old methods which had fallen into
disuse: (fn. 214) four of the five were standing in 1993.
Council houses were built in the south-east
angle of Parsonage Road and Salisbury Road
from c. 1920; 82 had been built by 1932. (fn. 215) In the
late 1930s 11 council houses were built in Coldharbour and 12 in James Road near the station. (fn. 216)
There were three main ribbons of speculative
building in the 1920s and 1930s. To the east the
whole of London Road, called Station Road
until the mid 1930s, was built up between the
station and the north-east end of High Street:
the buildings included four concrete bungalows
with flat roofs and arcaded fronts. (fn. 217) To the north
houses were built along Countess Road, (fn. 218) and to
the west along the south side of the Exeter road,
there called Stonehenge Road. (fn. 219) Between 1923
and 1937 on the west side of Salisbury Road
seven cottages were built south of the workhouse
and six pairs of houses nearer the town. (fn. 220) From
c. 1929 house building began beside a track, later
Kitchener Road, south-east of and parallel to
London Road, and apparently in the 1930s three
pairs of bungalows were built in a new street,
Church Lane, off the south-west end of Church
Street. (fn. 221) East of the town married quarters were
built in Allington Way, Main Road, and Imber
Avenue, all on the west side of Boscombe Down
airfield, between 1927 and 1937. (fn. 222) Between the
two world wars new buildings were also erected
in the old part of the town. The British Legion
club in Church Street, Lloyds Bank at the
junction of Church Street and Salisbury Street
on or near the site of the market house, and the
Midland Bank in High Street had all been built
by 1923. A large furniture warehouse was built
on the east side of Salisbury Road, commercial
garages were built in High Street and elsewhere,
and a school, a Roman Catholic church, a cinema, a bus station, a museum, and other buildings
to provide public services were erected. (fn. 223)

Amesbury Streets c. 1987

After the Second World War many civilians
were employed at Boscombe Down and the
other military camps nearby, (fn. 224) and many new
houses were built at Amesbury. In James Road
32 council houses were built in the period
1947–9. (fn. 225) About 1950 a new road, Antrobus
Road, was made to link Earls Court Road and
the north end of Holders Road, and in the
triangle bounded by the three roads c. 314
council houses were built between 1950 and
1961. (fn. 226) About another 48 council houses were
built in the angle of Holders Road and James
Road in the 1960s, (fn. 227) 64 in the angle of Holders
Road and Earls Court Road in 1973, (fn. 228) and after
1975 some east of Holders Road and some south
of Boscombe Road (the extension of Earls Court
Road). (fn. 229) In the 1950s Coldharbour was extended
north- eastwards as the Drove, (fn. 230) and a school
built between it and Antrobus Road (fn. 231) separated
areas of council and private housing. In the
Drove, in and off Kitchener Road, and in Beacon
Close in an angle of London Road and the
railway, private housing, mainly bungalows, was
built between 1957 and 1975. South-east of the
town new housing was built for military personnel: by 1957 c. 45 houses had been built in Imber
Avenue and Ashley Walk, 36 south-west of
Allington Way, and c. 60 in Lyndhurst Road
near the town; in Beaulieu Road, off Lyndhurst
Road, c. 56 houses were built in the early 1960s;
and in the 1970s more houses were built at
Boscombe Down, mainly south-west of Allington Way and on both sides of Milton Road.
A large estate of private houses was built on high
ground in the south-east part of the town between 1975 and 1985, (fn. 232) and in the early 1990s
numerous private houses were being built on the
remaining open space, bounded by Holders
Road, Boscombe Road, and the line of the
railway, between the town and Boscombe Down.

In the old part of the town Redworth House
was bought by Amesbury rural district council
in 1949 for use as offices: (fn. 233) in 1993 it was so used
by Salisbury district council and Wiltshire
county council. The Centre, a new road to divert
north and south traffic from High Street and
School Road, was made across the garden of
Amesbury House in 1964–5: (fn. 234) on the east side
of the new road the house was replaced by a
health centre opened in 1970 (fn. 235) and a new public
library opened in 1973; (fn. 236) on the west side the
garden was converted to a public car park in
1973. (fn. 237) The library is octagonal with walls of
chequered flint and ashlar and a pyramidal roof
of sheeted metal. The old workhouse was demolished in 1967; (fn. 238) houses were built on its site. A
small group of shops in Abbey Square off the
north-west side of Church Street was built in
1917; (fn. 239) a supermarket on the north side of
Salisbury Street and new shops on the corner of
Salisbury Street and Flower Lane were built in
1984. (fn. 240) Accommodation for old people built in
the 1970s and 1980s includes 50 rooms at Buckland Court in Salisbury Road, 35 flats in the
grounds of Amesbury Abbey, (fn. 241) and c. 26 flats in
London Road. At the west end of London Road
31 houses were built c. 1985, and the farmyard
of Red House farm in Salisbury Road was used
for housing c. 1990. In the later 20th century
there has been infilling in most parts of the town,
and in the early 1990s an estate of c. 30 houses
was built behind buildings on the north-west
side of High Street. Church Street, High Street,
and Salisbury Street are in a conservation area
designated in 1980. (fn. 242)

Bridges. At the south-west end of High Street,
part of the London—Bridgwater road, (fn. 243) there was
a bridge across a course of the Avon in the late
16th century. The bridge was of several arches
and was called West bridge in 1578. (fn. 244) There
were two bridges in 1593, (fn. 245) in 1675 there was a
stone bridge over an east course and a wooden
bridge over a west course, (fn. 246) and in 1726 the river
was apparently crossed by a ford below West
Mill and by the two bridges. The crossing
remained north-west of the south-west end of
High Street in 1726. (fn. 247) A new crossing in a
straight line with High Street was made before
1773, (fn. 248) presumably soon after the turnpiking of
the road in 1761. (fn. 249) Queensberry bridge was built
on that line in 1775 to replace an existing stone
bridge (fn. 250) over the western and main course; it is
of ashlar and has five segmental rusticated arches
and a solid parapet. A small stone bridge over
the east course is apparently also 18th-century.

The north—south road likely to have been
diverted to the north-east side of the priory
precinct soon after 1177 (fn. 251) crossed the Avon at
the north-east corner of the precinct on Grey
bridge, so called in 1540. (fn. 252) In the later 16th
century there were two bridges, (fn. 253) presumably
one over a north course and one over a south
course, and there were two such bridges in 1636
and later. Only the southern, over the main
course, bore the name Grey bridge in the 18th
century. (fn. 254) It was replaced by a new bridge built
c. 1970. (fn. 255) The northern, built in the 18th century
and widened in 1910, (fn. 256) is of two arches and of
ashlar.

At the south end of Frog Lane the Avon was
crossed by Broad bridge, so called in 1566. The
bridge was standing in 1635, (fn. 257) but in 1726 the
river was forded at its site. (fn. 258).

Inns. Amesbury, a market town on a main road,
has had many inns. It had four or five in the
early 16th century, one of which, the George,
first mentioned in 1522, (fn. 259) bore the same name
in 1993 and, on the north-west side of High
Street, (fn. 260) almost certainly occupied the same site.
The timber-framed range adjoining the street
had a jettied upper floor and was evidently built
c. 1560, shortly after the inn was damaged by
fire. (fn. 261) The north-eastern end was raised, a
carriageway made through the centre, and the
jetty underbuilt with stone in the 18th century,
evidently soon after the inn was damaged in the
fire of 1751. (fn. 262) About 1908 a back range which
formed the north-west side of a courtyard was
demolished and a brick wing was built at the
south-west end. (fn. 263) Sir George Rodney committed
suicide at the George in 1601. (fn. 264) The inn had a
cockpit and a skittle alley c. 1735. (fn. 265) Three other
early 16th-century inns, the Three Cups, the
Swan, and the Crown may all have ceased to be
inns in the early 18th century: the Three Cups
and the Swan were in High Street. (fn. 266)

In 1620 there were six innkeepers and three
alehouse keepers in Amesbury. (fn. 267) Of the inns in
1635 the Chopping Knife, in High Street, bore
its name until 1800 or later, the Falcon until
1717 or later. The White Hart in High Street,
an inn in 1700 and 1726, was later called the
Jockey: it remained open until c. 1800. In addition to the George, the Chopping Knife, and the
White Hart, the Bear, on the south-east side near
the south-west end, and the Three Tuns, on the
same side near the middle, were in High Street
in 1726. The New Inn, open in 1726 (fn. 268) and until
the 1780s, was rebuilt, possibly c. 1761, and was
later called Comilla House. (fn. 269) The Bear is last
known to have been an inn in 1770, (fn. 270) the Three
Tuns in 1771. (fn. 271) Several new inns were evidently
opened in the earlier 18th century, the Angel and
the Ship (each mentioned only in 1717), (fn. 272) the
King's Arms and the Greyhound (each in High
Street and first mentioned in 1735), (fn. 273) and the
Red Lion, which had been renamed the Fox by
1750. (fn. 274) The Greyhound, near the George, was
damaged by the fire of 1751 and had been closed
by 1771; (fn. 275) the Fox was damaged by fire in 1803 (fn. 276)
and is not known to have been open later.

The closure of several inns in the late 18th
century and early 19th was evidently at a time
of diminished prosperity in Amesbury. There
were almost certainly fewer inns in the town in
1822 than at any time since the Middle Ages:
there were then four, the George, the King's.
Arms, the New Inn, and the Bell Tap. (fn. 277) The
King's Arms and the New Inn were presumably
the houses, in Church Street and on the southeast side of High Street respectively, bearing
those names in 1993; the house in High Street
was formerly the Three Tuns. (fn. 278) The King's
Arms is a brick house of the 18th century. The
New Inn, timber-framed and of the late 16th
century or early 17th, has a large central room,
a north-east parlour, and a south-west cross
wing; a carriageway, cut through the south-west
end of the central room when the house was
converted to an inn, was later taken back into
the room. The Bell Tap was presumably on the
site of the Bell, so called in 1880, (fn. 279) on the north
side of Salisbury Street: the Bell was rebuilt in
1908. (fn. 280) A fifth inn, an 18th-century house of
banded chalk and brick at the corner of Coldharbour and Earls Court Road, was opened as
the Greyhound in the 1930s (fn. 281) and remained open
in 1993.

Public services. In 1827 a lockup with a curved
west wall was built in the north-east angle of
High Street and the market place. (fn. 282) No constable
was appointed by a court at Amesbury after the
county police force was formed in 1839. (fn. 283) There
was a police station in Salisbury Street in the
1880s; (fn. 284) that and the lockup presumably remained in use until a new police station was built
in School Road in 1912. The lockup was standing in 1993, when it was a shop. The police
station in School Road had four cells, and living
accommodation for a superintendent, a sergeant,
and four unmarried constables. (fn. 285) It was converted for private residence after a new police
station was opened in Salisbury Road in 1976. (fn. 286)

Amesbury had a fire engine from 1771 or
earlier. In 1771 it was housed on the south side
of Smithfield Street or in Frog Lane or Tanners
Lane, (fn. 287) presumably at the angle of Frog Lane
and the market place as it was in 1812 (fn. 288) and
1823. (fn. 289) About 1920 a motorized fire engine was
bought and a new building at the angle of Earls
Court Road and Salisbury Road erected to house
it. (fn. 290) In 1954–5 a new fire station was built at the
junction of Salisbury Road and Flower Lane. (fn. 291).

A gasworks had been built north of the town
and on the south bank of the Avon by 1878. (fn. 292)
Electricity was generated by the Amesbury Electric Light Company at South Mill from 1922: (fn. 293)
the gasworks was removed between 1899 and
1923, (fn. 294) presumably c. 1922. Electricity mains
were laid from 1927. (fn. 295) Electricity was later supplied from other sources, substations were
constructed at Ratfyn, (fn. 296) and in 1948 South Mill
was closed as a power station. (fn. 297) Public sewers
were laid, disposal works were built south of the
town, and a pumping station was built in Flower
Lane, all c. 1905. The disposal works were
rebuilt in 1931 and the new works were later
extended. Between 1937 and 1948 the War
Department built disposal works at Ratfyn to
serve Boscombe Down and other military
camps. The sewerage systems were integrated
after the Second World War. (fn. 298) Water mains were
laid in the town c. 1926. (fn. 299).

A cemetery and mortuary chapel south-west of
the town were consecrated in 1860. (fn. 300) The cemetery was enlarged in 1918, the chapel demolished
in 1972. (fn. 301)

Wilts. & Dorset Motor Services had a garage
in Amesbury in 1923, (fn. 302) built a bus station at the
junction of Salisbury Road and Salisbury Street
in the mid 1930s, (fn. 303) and built a new garage c.
1937. (fn. 304) The bus depot was closed c. 1971. (fn. 305)

There was a public reading room in Church
Street in 1910 and 1923: (fn. 306) it was presumably
closed in 1925 when Antrobus House was
opened. (fn. 307) A branch of the county library was
opened in the town in 1950–1, was in the former
fire station at the angle of Earls Court Road and
Salisbury Road from 1959 to 1973, and in 1973
was moved to the new library building. (fn. 308)

Recreation. Amesbury had several bands in the
late 19th century and early 20th. A town brass
band formed c. 1878 was re-formed after the
First World War, acquired new silver-plated
instruments in 1930, and continued until the
mid 1960s. In 1969 it was re-formed as Amesbury Town Silver Band, (fn. 309) which, as Amesbury
Town Band, still gave performances in the
1990s. (fn. 310)

A bioscope was set up at the junction of Earls
Court Road and Salisbury Road in 1911 or soon
after, and a wooden cinema was built there. A
new cinema, the Plaza, was opened in 1936 (fn. 311) and
demolished in 1993. (fn. 312) The New Theatre Ballroom in High Street was open in the 1940s and
1950s. (fn. 313)

Antrobus House in Salisbury Road (fn. 314) was
opened in 1925. It was built for public use by a
trust endowed by members of the Antrobus
family, who until 1915 owned most of the land
in the parish, and contained on the first floor a
museum and a library and on the ground floor
a hall to be used as a reading room and for social
functions. The two-storeyed building, designed
by Geoffrey Fildes, is of red brick with stone
dressings, is in neo-Wren style, and has a tall
central block surmounted by a cupola; it is
flanked by a curator's house and a caretaker's
house, each in similar style, one to the north and
one to the south. Also for public use tennis
courts and a bowling green were made in its
garden c. 1925. (fn. 315) In the later 20th century there
were few artefacts in the museum and both the
upper room and the lower were available for
meetings: Amesbury town council met in the
upper. (fn. 316) The caretaker lived in one of the houses,
the other having been converted to service
rooms. (fn. 317)

A recreation ground south-west of the town
was opened in the 1920s: it has been used for
team sports, carnivals, and flower shows. (fn. 318) In
1974 a sports hall and youth centre was opened
near the school off Antrobus Road. (fn. 319)

West Amesbury. In the Middle Ages the
village evidently consisted of a line of farmsteads
on the north side of the road following the right
bank of the Avon. (fn. 320) So called in 1205, (fn. 321) and with
its own open fields and common pastures in the
13th century, (fn. 322) it may represent planned colonization on Amesbury manor. In the 17th century
the road was called a street where it passed
through the village, (fn. 323) which was often called
Little Amesbury. (fn. 324) Taxation assessments of the
14th century suggest that the village was small, (fn. 325)
and it is likely never to have contained as many
as 10 farmsteads. It had c. 60 inhabitants in
1841 (fn. 326) and contained 2 houses and 12 cottages
in 1910. (fn. 327)

In the mid 16th century a new house was built
on the north side of the street at the east end;
from 1618 or earlier, possibly until 1628, it was
apparently lived in by the lord of West Amesbury manor, (fn. 328) and it survives as the west range
of West Amesbury House. It has thick walls of
rubble and a five-bayed roof with arch-braced
collar trusses and curved wind braces. The
ground floor has two rooms separated by an
east—west cross passage, and the moulded timber
screen to the north survives. The first floor,
which is entered from the east throught a stone
doorway with a two-centred head, was originally
a single room open to the roof. The house was
altered in the early 17th century, the date of two
walls of panelling. It seems to have been a
farmhouse from 1628 (fn. 329) until the early 18th century, when it was enlarged; the enlargement is
most likely to have been soon after 1735, the year
in which the house was bought by Charles, duke
of Queensberry. (fn. 330) A large eastern extension was
built and the original house was partly refitted;
the original staircase does not survive and was
presumably removed then. The gabled south
front of the old house was rebuilt as the west
end of a symmetrical front in which stands a
slightly recessed entrance. The whole front was
built of chequered stone and flint, with mullioned windows and tall gables, probably as a
deliberate attempt to give the house an appearance of antiquity. In the 19th century a range of
building to the east was demolished, part of it
between 1812 and 1825, (fn. 331) and minor additions
were made to the north and east parts of the
house. West of the house stands an 18th-century
red-brick stable. By 1773 a small formal garden
had been made east of the house and, south of
the house, and avenue had been planted between
the street and the river; (fn. 332) opposite the entrance
to the house rusticated gate piers apparently of
the 18th century stand at the entrance to the
avenue. West Amesbury House was a farmhouse
in the mid 19th century (fn. 333) but not in the 20th. (fn. 334)

A farmhouse described in 1728 as new (fn. 335) is
evidently the house called Moor Hatches in
1993. It is the only house known to have been
built on the south side of the street. Adjoining
it a farm building bears a date stone apparently
of the 1720s: that, other farm buildings, and a
new building to link them, (fn. 336) were adapted to
form a single house in the 20th century. Also in
the street in 1993 stood a thatched 18th-century
farmhouse and a thatched, apparently 17thcentury, cottage, each much enlarged in its own
style, two large thatched barns converted for
residence, and a thatched range of serveral cottages each of a single storey and attic. A little
west of the village Coneybury House, in vernacular style and thatched, was built between
1923 and 1939. (fn. 337) Farm buildings in the street
went out of use in the 20th century, (fn. 338) and the
village was designated a conservation area in
1980. (fn. 339)

On the downs west of the village a farmstead,
called Fargo or Virgo and incorporating a pair
of cottages, was built between 1825 and 1851 (fn. 340)
and demolished c. 1917. (fn. 341) Beside the Exeter road
a pair of cottages was built between 1825 and
1846; (fn. 342) a house stood on the site in 1993. Stonehenge Cottages beside it were built in the
1930s. (fn. 343)

In the 20th century, mostly in the 1920s and
1930s, c. 25 private houses were built on the
south side of Stonehenge Road east of the village
and 5 in Riverside Avenue south of the road at
its east end. A thatched 18th-century cottage
stands at that end; near it a toll house demolished
in the earlier 20th century (fn. 344) was similar to that
at Countess. (fn. 345)

Countess. If there were open fields in the
north-west corner of the parish (fn. 346) they may have
been worked from a settlement of several farmsteads, but there is evidence of only one from
1364, when it was called Countess Court, (fn. 347) to
1993, when it was called Countess Farm. The
name Countess was evidently taken from either
Rametta (fl. 1248), a daughter of John Viscount
and called the Viscountess, Joan, countess of
Lincoln (d. by 1322), or Alice, countess of
Lincoln and of Salisbury (d. 1348), each of
whom held the land. (fn. 348) Countess Farm, beside
the road leading south to Amesbury on the west
bank of the Avon, is likely to be on the site of
Countess Court. The farmhouse consists of two
ranges: the west is a 17th-century timber-framed
block which was extended northwards and encased in brick in the 18th century; the east, with
a principal east front, was added in the early
19th. The course of the road was apparently
moved a little east from the house, (fn. 349) presumably
when the east range was built. Among modern
farm buildings stand four weatherboarded
barns, two of 5 bays, one of 7, and one of 3: two
are dated 1772 and the others are apparently
contemporary with them.

Several cottages were built near the farmstead
in the 19th and 20th centuries, on the west side
of the road a pair between 1812 and 1825, a pair
between 1825 and 1846, (fn. 350) and a trio between
1899 and 1915, and on the east side a pair
between 1915 and 1923. (fn. 351) On the west side and
c. 250 m. north of the farmstead stands a toll
house, of red brick with a pyramidal roof, evidently of c. 1761. (fn. 352) On the east side and beside
the boundary with Durrington a house called
Totterdown was standing in 1773. (fn. 353) It was demolished between 1812 and 1825. (fn. 354)

The road, from the north-east end of High
Street to the parish boundary, was called Countess Road from the mid 20th century. (fn. 355) A new
Totterdown House was built near the site of the
old c. 1927, (fn. 356) and both sides of Countess Road
were built up with private houses southwards
from the Durrington boundary from c. 1926. (fn. 357)
By 1993 c. 116 had been built between the
boundary and Countess Farm. In the north-east
angle of Countess Road and the Amesbury
bypass a hotel, a restaurant, and a filling station
were built in 1989 for motorists. (fn. 358)

On the downs west of Countess a farmstead
called Seven Barrows, incorporating a pair of
cottages, was built between 1846 and 1876. (fn. 359) It
was demolished c. 1977. (fn. 360)

Ratfyn. In the 14th and 15th centuries Ratfyn
was a settlement of several farmsteads and cottages on the east bank of the Avon and had a
chapel. (fn. 361) It had 17 poll-tax payers in 1377, (fn. 362)
fewer than 10 households in 1428. (fn. 363) In the 16th
century it may have been the site of only a single
farmstead, (fn. 364) as it was in the 19th. A farmhouse
and two pairs of cottages stood there in 1846 (fn. 365)
and two more cottages were built between 1923
and 1937. In the 20th century Ratfyn has been
the site of a railway junction and siding, two
railway-engine sheds, a sewage disposal works,
and two electricity substations. (fn. 366)

The present farmhouse was built in the later
18th century and was L-shaped. Its main fronts,
south and east, are of red brick, the others of
chequered chalk and flint. The angle was filled
by a block built in the early 19th century, and
later in that century a north service wing was
built. The two pairs of cottages had been converted to a terrace by 1876; (fn. 367) part of it is
apparently 18th-century, the rest 19th-century.
There are two groups of farm buildings, one
mainly and one wholly 20th-century.

On the downs east of the hamlet New Barn
was built beside the London road between 1846
and 1876. Three cottages were built beside it in
the early 20th century. (fn. 368)

Manors and other estates.

King
Alfred (d. 899) devised Amesbury to his son
Aethelweard. (fn. 369) The estate may have belonged to
rulers of the region for many centuries: Stonehenge is likely to have been built and developed
by such rulers, (fn. 370) and the legend that Ambrosius
Aurelianus was active locally and gave his name
to Amesbury may have a basis in fact. (fn. 371) On
Aethelweard's death in 922 Amesbury presumably reverted to Alfred's son King Edward the
Elder (d. 924) (fn. 372) and apparently descended with
the crowns of Wessex and of England. (fn. 373) Edward
the Elder's son King Eadred (d. 955) devised it
to his mother Eadgifu; (fn. 374) she possibly held it for
life, and c. 979 it may have been held by
Aelfthryth, who was the relict of King Edgar,
Eadgifu's grandson. (fn. 375) Amesbury continued to
pass with the Crown and was one of King
Edward the Confessor's estates held, after the
Conquest, by William I, who took from it yearly
only the cost of keeping his household for one
night. (fn. 376)

In 1086 the king's Amesbury estate included
land away from Amesbury itself, (fn. 377) and nearly all
of what became Amesbury parish belonged to
him. Before the Conquest part of the estate,
probably land at Amesbury, was held by three
thegns, but between 1067 and 1071 it was acquired by William FitzOsbern, earl of Hereford,
and given to the king in an exchange; (fn. 378) King
Edward (d. 1066) gave 2 hides of the estate to
Wilton abbey, (fn. 379) but in 1086 the abbey held
nothing at Amesbury. Two other estates at
Amesbury in 1066 were not the king's: Ulmer
held 1 hide, and Alric and Cole between them
held 3 yardlands. Edward of Salisbury, sheriff
of Wiltshire, held both estates in 1086, when
Osmund held them of him, and an Englishman
held of Osmund 1½ of the 3 yardlands; (fn. 380) both
presumably passed to Edward's son Walter (d.
1147) and grandson Patrick, earl of Salisbury, (fn. 381)
and presumably were part of Amesbury manor
from the mid 12th century. (fn. 382) Ratfyn, however,
was not part of the king's Amesbury estate in
1086 and did not belong to a lord of Amesbury
manor until 1841. (fn. 383)

The Amesbury estate which William I held
apparently passed with the Crown until the
1140s. It is likely to have been granted, without
most of the land away from Amesbury, by the
Empress Maud to Patrick of Salisbury when,
between 1142 and 1147, she created him earl of
Salisbury, and Patrick held it in 1155. (fn. 384) By the
earlier 13th century parts of Amesbury parish
had been subinfeudated; (fn. 385) Bentley wood in West
Dean, almost certainly part of the estate in
1086, (fn. 386) was evidently not subinfeudated and
remained part of Amesbury manor until the 19th
century. (fn. 387)

AMESBURY manor descended with the earldom of Salisbury from Patrick (fn. 388) (d. 1168) to his
son William (fn. 389) (d. 1196) and William Longespee (fn. 390)
(d. 1226), the husband of William's daughter
and heir Ela (d. 1261): Longespee's lands were
forfeited in 1216, for his support of Louis of
France, and restored in 1217. (fn. 391) Ela, who took
the veil in 1238, held the manor from 1226, (fn. 392)
and in 1236–7 it passed to her son William
Longespee (d. 1250), styled earl of Salisbury. (fn. 393)
It descended to that William's son Sir William
(d. 1257), who was granted free warren in his
demesne land in 1252. (fn. 394) Sir William's daughter
and heir Margaret was a minor, (fn. 395) and Queen
Eleanor held the manor from 1257 to 1268 when
Margaret, from 1261 countess of Salisbury (d.
1306 X 1310), and her husband Henry de Lacy,
earl of Lincoln (d. 1311), entered on it. (fn. 396) On
Lacy's death it passed to his and Margaret's
daughter Alice, countess of Lincoln and of Salisbury (d. 1348), wife of Thomas, earl of Lancaster
(d. 1322). (fn. 397)

A dispute whether Alice was lawfully married
to Thomas or to Richard de St. Martin, a knight
of John de Warenne, earl of Surrey, led to armed
conflict between Thomas and John in 1317–18:
when they made peace in 1319 part of Alice's
inheritance, including Amesbury manor, was
granted to John for life. (fn. 398) In 1322, after Thomas
was judged a traitor and executed, Alice, later
wife of Ebles Lestrange, Lord Strange, granted
the reversion of the manor to Edward II (fn. 399) who,
also in 1322, granted it to the younger Hugh le
Despenser, Lord le Despenser; (fn. 400) the king resumed it on Despenser's execution in 1326, and
in 1327 granted the manor to Joan, wife of John,
earl of Surrey, for life from her husband's
death. (fn. 401) John died seised in 1347; (fn. 402) Joan granted
her life interest to Edward, prince of Wales, in
1348 (fn. 403) and died in 1361. (fn. 404)

In 1337 Edward III created William de Montagu earl of Salisbury and granted to him the
reversion of Amesbury manor in tail male. (fn. 405) The
reversion passed on William's death in 1344 to
his son William, earl of Salisbury (d. 1397), (fn. 406)
who entered on the manor in 1361. (fn. 407) In 1365
John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, and his wife
Blanche claimed Amesbury and other manors
from William on the apparently spurious
grounds that the manors were part of the inheritance of Thomas, earl of Lancaster, which
passed to his brother Henry, earl of Lancaster
(d. 1345), when the judgement against Thomas
was reversed in 1327, and which descended to
Blanche as Henry's granddaughter. The dispute
was referred to the king, (fn. 408) and by a compromise
William, earl of Salisbury, retained Amesbury
manor. (fn. 409) At William's death in 1397 the manor
passed with the earldom to his nephew John de
Montagu (d. 1400), on whose attainder in 1401 (fn. 410)
it was forfeited to Henry IV. The king, as heir
of Thomas, earl of Lancaster, claimed to hold it
as part of the duchy of Lancaster, (fn. 411) but restored
it to John's son Thomas, earl of Salisbury, in
1409. (fn. 412) At Thomas's death in 1428 Amesbury
manor, which was held in tail male, was separated from the earldom of Salisbury, which was
limited to heirs of the body, and passed to his
uncle Richard de Montagu (d. s.p.m. 1429). On
Richard's death the manor escheated to Henry
VI subject to the dower of Thomas's relict Alice,
from 1430 wife of William de la Pole, earl of
Suffolk, in a third. (fn. 413)

In 1433 the king granted the manor to his uncle
John, duke of Bedford (d. 1435), whose heir he
was. (fn. 414) It was held as dower by John's relict
Jacquette (d. 1472) in 1436–7, (fn. 415) but in 1438–9
was again the king's. (fn. 416) In 1439 the king sold it
to his granduncle Cardinal Henry Beaufort,
bishop of Winchester, (fn. 417) to whom in 1441 Alice,
countess of Suffolk, and her husband, on receipt
of compensation from the king, surrendered her
third. (fn. 418) Cardinal Beaufort granted the whole
manor of Amesbury to the hospital of Holy
Cross, Winchester, in 1446. (fn. 419)

After the victory of Edward IV, supported by
Richard Nevill, earl of Warwick, over Henry VI,
in 1461 parliament restored to Richard's mother
Alice, countess of Salisbury, daughter of Thomas, earl of Salisbury (d. 1428), Amesbury
manor and other lands which John, earl of
Salisbury, held at his death opposing Henry IV
in 1400: that the manor had been restored in
1409 and, held in tail male, had escheated to
Henry VI in 1429 was ignored, (fn. 420) and the hospital
of Holy Cross was deprived of it. (fn. 421) On Alice's
death in 1462 Amesbury manor passed to Warwick (d. 1471), at the partition of whose lands it
was allotted to his daughter Isabel (d. 1476), wife
of George Plantagenet, duke of Clarence (d.
1478). From 1478 it was held by Isabel's son
Edward Plantagenet, earl of Warwick, a minor, (fn. 422)
but in 1492 Margaret, countess of Richmond (d.
1509), the mother of Henry VII and grandniece
of Cardinal Beaufort, petitioned parliament for
it: she referred to the earlier tenure in tail male,
by which it escheated to Henry VI, claimed it
as Beaufort's heir, ignored Beaufort's gift of it
to Holy Cross, and succeeded in her petition. (fn. 423)
The manor was apparently held in 1501 by
Henry VII, (fn. 424) and descended to Henry VIII. (fn. 425) In
1513 Margaret Pole, from then countess of
Salisbury, was given the lands held by her
brother Edward, earl of Warwick, at his execution in 1499: (fn. 426) Amesbury manor was not among
them, (fn. 427) but she may nevertheless have held it
between 1513 and 1515. Thereafter, however, it
was the king's (fn. 428) and in 1536 he granted it to Sir
Edward Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp, (fn. 429) from
1537 earl of Hertford, from 1547 duke of Somerset. (fn. 430) By Act of 1540 the manor was settled on
Seymour for life, and after on his son Edward
by his wife Anne Stanhope. (fn. 431)

In 1541 Seymour acquired other land in the
parish, (fn. 432) and thereafter Amesbury manor came
to be called the EARLDOM or Earl's manor of
Amesbury. Seymour held it until he was executed and attainted in 1552. An Act of that year
confirmed the Act of 1540, and the manor was
appointed to Edward (fn. 433) (a minor until 1558, cr.
earl of Hertford 1559, d. 1621); it descended
with the earldom to that Edward's grandson
William Seymour (cr. marquess of Hertford
1641, duke of Somerset 1660, d. 1660), to William's grandson William Seymour, duke of
Somerset (d. 1671), and to that William's uncle
John Seymour, duke of Somerset (d. 1675). On
John's death the manor passed to the younger
William's sister Elizabeth (d. 1697), from 1676
wife of Thomas Bruce (d. 1741), earl of Ailesbury from 1685. Elizabeth's heir, her son
Charles Bruce, (fn. 434) in 1720 sold it to his cousin once
removed Henry Boyle, Lord Carleton (d.
1725), (fn. 435) who devised it to his nephew Charles
Douglas, duke of Queensberry (d. 1778), the
husband of Catherine Hyde (d. 1777), reputedly
Henry's natural daughter. (fn. 436) The manor passed
in 1778 with the dukedom to Charles's cousin
once removed William Douglas; at William's
death in 1820 it passed to his kinsman Archibald
Douglas, Lord Douglas; and in 1825 Lord
Douglas sold it to Sir Edmund Antrobus, Bt. (d.
1826). (fn. 437) It descended with the baronetcy to Sir
Edmund's nephew Sir Edmund Antrobus (d.
1870), to that Sir Edmund's son Sir Edmund (d.
1899), and in turn to that Sir Edmund's sons Sir
Edmund (d. 1915) and Sir Cosmo. (fn. 438) Other manors and estates in the parish were added to the
Earldom manor, principally the Priory manor in
1541, West Amesbury in 1735, Coombes Court
and Countess Court in 1760, and Ratfyn in
1841, (fn. 439) and from 1841 the Antrobuses owned
nearly all the parish. Sir Cosmo offered the estate
for sale in 1915, when most land of the Earldom
manor was in Earls Court, Ratfyn, and Red
House farms. (fn. 440)

A. C. Young bought Earls Court and Ratfyn
farms, 1,613 a., in 1916, and in 1919 sold them
to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. (fn. 441) Earls
Court farm, 236 a., was immediately fragmented
as smallholdings. (fn. 442) Ratfyn farm was divided by
the Ministry of Agriculture into three farms.
Beacon Hill farm, 451 a., was bought c. 1955 by
Mr. C. H. Crook, the owner in 1993; Pennings
farm, 262 a., was bought in 1960 by E. C.
Sandell, whose son Mr. I. F. Sandell owned it
in 1993. (fn. 443) Red House farm, 964 a., was bought
in 1916 by John Wort (d. 1921), George Way
(d. 1939), and J. H. Wort (d. 1960), (fn. 444) in business
together as Wort & Way, builders, of Salis
bury. (fn. 445) Wort & Way sold 283 a. in 1925, c. 50 a.
in 1947, further land in 1949, and 53 a. in 1960,
all to the state for Boscombe Down airfield and
housing associated with it. (fn. 446) The firm was dissolved in 1967. (fn. 447) The remainder of Red House
farm was sold in 1982 by H. G. Way to Mr. J.
C. Salvidge, the owner of 300 a. of it in 1993.
In the later 1980s Mr. Salvidge sold c. 150 a. as
Stockport farm to Mr. I. F. Sandell, the owner
of that land in 1993, and 56 a. in 1990 to the
Ministry of Defence. (fn. 448)

Amesbury abbey is unlikely to have owned any
land in the parish apart from its own site, and
in 1179 Amesbury priory, which replaced the
abbey in 1177, was endowed with none outside
the site. (fn. 449) What became the PRIORY manor
was built up piecemeal: the priory acquired 1
yardland in Amesbury in 1237, (fn. 450) presumably the
land which it held in 1242, (fn. 451) and 105 a. in West
Amesbury from Roger Convers in 1268, (fn. 452) presumably the land which it held there in 1275. (fn. 453)
The priory was granted free warren in its demesne land in the parish in 1286. (fn. 454) Other land
may have been added to the estate by 1291 when
the priory's temporalities in the parish were
worth £7 a year, (fn. 455) and in 1315 Walter Lovel gave
6 bovates in West Amesbury, an estate in which
the priory had held Walter Aleyn's life interest
since 1309. (fn. 456) At the Dissolution (fn. 457) it held its own
site, mills, 37 a. of meadow, pasture, and
parkland, a nominal 290 a. of arable, feeding for
374 sheep, c. 50 cottages and houses in the town,
including two inns, and a further c. 10 a.: (fn. 458) some
of its agricultural land was in Amesbury, some
in West Amesbury. (fn. 459) In an exchange the Crown
granted that estate in 1541 to Edward, earl of
Hertford, (fn. 460) later duke of Somerset, on whose
attainder in 1552 it was forfeited. In 1553, under
the Act of 1552, it was assigned to Edward's son
Edward, from 1559 earl of Hertford, in recompense for lands settled on the younger Edward
in 1540 and alienated before 1552. (fn. 461) Later called
Amesbury Priory manor it descended with the
Earldom manor. (fn. 462) In 1915 it was represented by
an estate which, including the site of the priory
and some of its lands, consisted of Amesbury
Abbey, its park, and land adjoining the park to
the west, a total of 264 a. (fn. 463) That estate passed
from Sir Cosmo Antrobus, Bt. (d. 1939), with
the baronetcy to his cousin Sir Philip Antrobus
(d. 1968) and his second cousin once removed
Sir Philip Antrobus. (fn. 464) In 1979–80 the house and
c. 20 a. were sold to Mr. J. V. Cornelius-Reid,
the owner in 1992. (fn. 465) Of the rest c. 200 a.
belonged to Sir Philip in 1992. (fn. 466)

There is no evidence that the prioress's house
was lived in after the Dissolution, and what is
likely to have been a smaller house stood on its
site c. 1574. (fn. 467) A new mansion house (fn. 468) on the site
of the priory was built for Edward, earl of
Hertford, between 1595, when he brought the
site in hand, (fn. 469) and 1601, when he lived at
Amesbury. (fn. 470) It may have been completed by
1599, when Hertford was seeking to exclude a
yearly fair from what had been the priory's
precinct. (fn. 471) In 1600 a gatehouse, Diana House,
was built at the north-east corner of the precinct;
also in 1600 an ornamental tower was built,
evidently within or overlooking the precinct; and
in 1607 a gatehouse, Kent House, was built at
the east corner of the precinct. Both Diana
House and Kent House are of flint with slated
ogee roofs and of two storeys; each has no more
than a single pentagonal room to each storey and
has an adjoining three-storeyed hexagonal stair
turret. Kent House was enlarged, possibly c.
1761 to designs by Henry Flitcroft, (fn. 472) and was a
farmhouse in the later 18th century. (fn. 473) The tower,
which may have been of similar style, was
evidently re-erected as a feature of the landscape
around Wilbury House in Newton Tony in the
18th century. (fn. 474) The precincts of the priory, of
which the Avon and a wall were boundaries,
formed a park around the house, (fn. 475) except that the
south-east boundary was evidently moved
north-west away from the backs of the buildings
in High Street; (fn. 476) the main entrances to the priory,
along Abbey Lane (fn. 477) and apparently west of the
parish church, (fn. 478) may have been replaced by a
main entrance near Kent House and a service
entrance near Diana House. There was a bowling green in the park in 1635. (fn. 479) The mansion was
lived in by Robert Devereux, earl of Essex, in
1636, (fn. 480) in 1640 visited by Philip, earl of Pembroke, or by Lord Herbert, (fn. 481) and in the
Interregnum lived in by William, marquess of
Hertford, on the order of parliament. (fn. 482) Nothing
remains of it, except perhaps the four-centred
doorway incorporated in the basement of the
present Amesbury Abbey.

A new house (fn. 483) was evidently designed for
Lord Hertford (d. 1660) by John Webb and had
been built for him or his successor William, duke
of Somerset, by the early 1660s. (fn. 484) Called the
Abbey in the mid 18th century, (fn. 485) it was in the
style associated with Inigo Jones and innovative
in both plan and appearance. The south front
was of nine bays and was rusticated on the
ground and first floor; in the centre a portico
rose through the first and second storeys. The
principal rooms were on the first floor and were
wrapped around three sides of the main staircase, which was lit from a central recess in the
north elevation: although the south front was c.
75 ft. long those rooms were neither numerous
nor large. There was a low third storey below
the cornice. (fn. 486) In the late 17th century and early
18th the house was leased, (fn. 487) but for most of the
period 1725–78 was lived in by Charles and
Catherine, duke and duchess of Queensberry. (fn. 488)
To provide a new dining room, a new drawing
room, and an additional staircase Queensberry
added a symmetrical block to each of the east
and west sides of the house in the late 1740s and
the 1750s, and about then attic dormers were
added to the old part of the house. The design
of the new blocks has been attributed to Flitcroft. (fn. 489)

In the early 18th century, and almost certainly
from when it was built, the house stood within
walled enclosures: that on the north-east contained gardens, and on the south there was a
forecourt with a semicircular south perimeter
from gates in which a double avenue led to the
church. A little west of the house stood an
irregular group of buildings, probably used as
stables, (fn. 490) which was demolished in the early 19th
century: some of the buildings, which evidently
incorporated round-headed windows, (fn. 491) may
have been erected in the 16th century or earlier.
Kennels stood north of Diana House in the
north-east corner of the park. North and west of
the house a canal cut across a meander of the
Avon, presumably to serve the priory, divided
the park from meadows between the watercourses. In much of the park east and south of
the house there were plantations, the geometrical
patterns of which were unrelated to the house.
Almost certainly between 1720 and 1725 new
gates were erected near Kent House. To provide
access to the mansion from the London road
without entering the town, an entrance avenue,
later called Lord's Walk, was then planted east
of the gates; within the gates an avenue along
the south-east boundary and, from near the
church, the south avenue formed a long and
dramatic approach to the main front of the
house. (fn. 492) In 1733 the walled enclosures were
replaced by a smaller forecourt and a haha was
made around the house. (fn. 493) After the duke of
Queensberry bought West Amesbury manor in
1735 (fn. 494) the formal landscaping was extended west
of the Avon. A design of 1738 by Charles
Bridgeman included geometrically arranged
avenues and paths through plantations on
Vespasian's camp. Clearings where the avenues
crossed were intended to be the sites of pavilions,
and at the centre of the side of the hill facing the
house a clearing was to be crossed by a terrace.
A large kite-shaped kitchen garden was to be
made west of the house, and east a great lawn
with a pavilion at its east end. The gardens were
unfinished in 1748, and some of Bridgeman's
designs, almost certainly including the kitchen
garden, were not executed. Plantations, paths,
and the terrace on Vespasian's camp were completed, and a vaulted cave was built from the
west side of the terrace, to designs attributed to
Flitcroft, and was later named after the dramatist John Gay. Access to Vespasian's camp, as
proposed by Bridgeman, was along an avenue
leading north-west from the house and over the
Avon, (fn. 495) and a bridge had been built by 1773: (fn. 496)
the present bridge, three-arched and of stone,
bears the inscription 1777. (fn. 497) West of the bridge
a smaller bridge over an inlet in a marshy area
is surmounted by a Chinese pavilion; the pavilion had been built by 1748, was evidently altered
or decorated with the advice of Sir William
Chambers c. 1772, and was restored in 1986. (fn. 498)
The park was enlarged north-westwards after
1760, the year in which the duke of Queensberry
bought Countess Court manor, and in 1773 was
c. 360 a. (fn. 499) By 1787 the forecourt south of the
house had been removed and the park extended
to the portico. (fn. 500) By the early 19th century a
gateway west of the church had become the
principal access to the park, and a drive led from
it to the house. (fn. 501) The 17th-century piers of the
gateway are presumably those formerly in the
forecourt. (fn. 502) The house was not lived in by
William, duke of Queensberry, (fn. 503) and in the
period 1778–1825 was sometimes leased; land
was disparked c. 1778. (fn. 504)

In 1834 Sir Edmund Antrobus began to rebuild Amesbury Abbey to designs by Thomas
Hopper. (fn. 505) Although the lower part of the rusticated south wall and some of the foundations of
the old house were re-used, the new house, taller
by the equivalent of one storey and with a taller
and wider portico, differs much from the old.
On the first floor of the original block the central
saloon was lengthened by having the other
rooms on the south front thrown into it, and the
staircase, which was moved northwards, was
surrounded by an arcaded gallery or landing.
The mid 18th-century blocks were built each with
and new larger side blocks were built each with
a projecting centre of four bays with attached
Corinthian three-quarter columns: behind one
projection was a new dining room, behind the
other a new drawing room. A small service
block, with its own symmetrical elevations, was
built to the north and partially separated from
the house by a small court; it was enlarged in
1860. In 1904, to designs by Detmar Blow, the
saloon was refitted and the main staircase from
the ground floor to the first was altered from
three flights around a square well to a broad stair
rising directly from the entrance hall. The house
was converted to flats c. 1960, when some of the
larger rooms were subdivided, (fn. 506) and to a nursing
home c. 1980, when lifts were installed. (fn. 507)

Manors and other estates in the parish evolved
from lands of Amesbury manor held by free
tenure in the Middle Ages. What became
COOMBES COURT manor was held in the
12th and 13th centuries by members of the
Everard and Goion families. A little of the land
was in West Amesbury. (fn. 508) William, earl of Salisbury (d. 1226), confirmed to Geoffrey Goion I
yardland in Amesbury, held by serjeanty, which
Geoffrey's forebears had held of William's, (fn. 509) and
before 1229 Roger son of Everard and Robert
Goion held land in West Amesbury. (fn. 510) Geoffrey
Goion held estates in the parish reckoned as ¼
and 1/5 knight's fee in 1242–3. (fn. 511) In 1272 John
Goion may have held some or all of the lands, (fn. 512)
which are likely to have passed to his son Robert
(fl. 1289). (fn. 513) In 1312 John Goion, presumably
another, and his wife Alice settled an estate in
the parish on themselves and the heirs of John's
body with remainder to William Everard and his
wife Agnes. (fn. 514) Later Agnes married a John
Goion (fn. 515) (perhaps him who fl. 1312), who may
have held the estate in 1340. (fn. 516) By 1364 the estate
had passed to Agnes's and John's daughter
Edith, wife of Walter of Coombe, and it was held
by Edith's son Walter of Coombe in 1382. (fn. 517)
From then to 1538 it descended with Moels
manor in North Tidworth. (fn. 518) It was held from
1407 or earlier by the younger Walter's son or
nephew Robert of Coombe; (fn. 519) it passed from
Robert (d. by 1416) to his son John, (fn. 520) before
1454 to John's son Richard (fn. 521) (d. by 1460), and
from Richard to his brother John. (fn. 522) That John
of Coombe's heir was his daughter Joan, wife of
Ralph Bannister (d. 1492), and Joan's was her
daughter Joan Bannister, who married Thomas
Dauntsey (fn. 523) and William Walwyn.

About 1540 Coombes Court manor passed to
Edmund Walwyn, (fn. 524) who in 1546–7 sold it to
Michael Scot (fn. 525) (d. 1553). Scot devised it to his
son Thomas in tail with remainder to his son
William (d. 1605), who had entered on it by
1576. William's heir, his son John, (fn. 526) in 1611 sold
the manor to Henry Sherfield (fn. 527) (d. 1634), the
puritan recorder of, and M.P. for, Salisbury, (fn. 528)
whose relict Rebecca Sherfield held it after his
death. (fn. 529) By order of Chancery, Sherfield's trustees conveyed it in 1638, subject to Rebecca's
jointure, to his principal creditor Sir Thomas
Jervoise. (fn. 530) It was held by Sir Thomas's sons
Thomas and Henry in 1656 and was apparently
settled on Henry in 1664. (fn. 531) In 1668 Henry sold
it to William Viner (d. 1680 X 1683). (fn. 532) It passed
to William's relict Elizabeth Viner (d. 1697 or
1698) (fn. 533) and to his son William, who in 1701 sold
it to Francis Kenton (d. 1719 or 1720). Kenton's
heir was his grandson Francis Kenton (fn. 534) (d.
1755), M.P. for Salisbury 1722–7, (fn. 535) who devised
it to his cousin Henry Dawson. In 1760 Dawson
sold the manor to Charles, duke of
Queensberry. (fn. 536)

Coombes Court manor was represented by
Viney's farm, 744 a., sold by Sir Cosmo Antrobus with West Amesbury farm to I. C. Crook
in 1916. (fn. 537) In 1943 Crook sold it to his son N. C.
Crook (d. 1946), whose relict Mrs. M. J. Crook
owned it in 1993. (fn. 538)

An estate called PAVYHOLD, nominally 190
a. in Amesbury with pasture rights there, (fn. 539)
belonged to the lord of Countess Court manor
in 1584 (fn. 540) and probably much earlier. It descended with the manor and was bought in 1760 by
Charles, duke of Queensberry. (fn. 541)

Land possibly acquired from the lord of
Countess Court manor in the later 14th century
by Robert Saucer, was held in 1428 by his
sons-in-law Thomas Hobbes and Walter Mes
sager, (fn. 542) and may have been SAUCER'S yardland in Amesbury, which descended with a
holding mainly in West Amesbury. (fn. 543) The yardland was sold by Thomas Hayward to trustees
of Henry Spratt in 1718, and given to Spratt's
school in Amesbury in 1719. (fn. 544) The school owned
it until 1900. (fn. 545)

In 1743 Anne Wormstall alias Tyler gave 57
a. in Amesbury with pasture rights there to
support a General Baptist congregation in
Rushall. In 1771 the estate was acquired by
Charles, duke of Queensberry, in exchange for
£30 a year and added to his Amesbury estate. (fn. 546)

The land of West Amesbury, apparently all
part of the king's Amesbury estate in 1086 and
subinfeudated later, was in several freeholds in
the 13th century. Some land was acquired by
Amesbury priory and became part of the Priory
manor. (fn. 547)

What became WEST AMESBURY manor
was held of William, styled earl of Salisbury, by
Patrick de Montfort as mesne lord in 1242–3. (fn. 548)
The manor apparently evolved from the carucate
conveyed by Reynold of Bungay and his wife
Philippe to John son of Warin in 1236. (fn. 549) The
Bungays may have retained an interest in that
land: in 1242–3 Rayner of Bungay, probably
Reynold, was said to hold land in West Amesbury of Patrick, (fn. 550) and in 1249 John son of Warin
disputed the carucate with Philippe's daughters
Petra, wife of John of Lincoln, and Pauline. (fn. 551)
The carucate may have been that held, apparently c. 1260, by John Renger (fn. 552) (d. by 1270),
whose heirs were his sisters Idony, wife of
Richard of Hadstock, Cecily, wife of Roger le
Gras, and Margery, relict of John Veel: the heirs
conveyed that land to Richard le Gras who in
1270 conveyed it to Nicholas, son of Ellis, and
his wife Alice. (fn. 553) It may also have been the land
held, possibly as early as 1275, by John of
Monmouth (fn. 554) who conveyed that land, or a large
part of it, to William de Forstel in 1308. (fn. 555)
William's relict Eleanor, wife of Ralph of Coulston, made an unsuccessful claim for dower in
1328, and about then the land apparently passed
from Monmouth to John Pauncefoot and his
wife Maud. (fn. 556) What became West Amesbury
manor descended in the Pauncefoot family: (fn. 557) it
was held in 1379 by Richard Pauncefoot, (fn. 558) possibly John's grandson, in 1412 by Richard's son
Thomas, (fn. 559) and in 1428, when it was said to have
been earlier Patrick de Montfort's, by Thomas's
son Walter. (fn. 560) In 1429 Walter conveyed it to his
brother Robert, (fn. 561) whose heir was his daughter
Elizabeth (d. 1528), wife of James Daubeney. (fn. 562)
The Daubeneys held the manor in 1510 (fn. 563) and it
descended with the manor of Wayford (Som.) to
their son Giles (d. 1559), who in 1546 settled it
on his son Hugh (d. 1565), and to Hugh's son
Giles (d. 1630), who in 1607 settled it on his son
James (d. s.p. 1613). (fn. 564) About 1615 James's
feoffees sold the manor to Robert Newdick, who
added it to South's estate, bought in 1614, and
was much impleaded by his creditors; (fn. 565) in 1628
Newdick sold the enlarged manor to Sir
Laurence Washington (fn. 566) (d. 1643). West Amesbury manor, together with 2 yardlands in
Amesbury, descended with Garsdon manor to
Sir Laurence's son Laurence (d. 1661) and to
Laurence's daughter Elizabeth, from 1671 wife
of Sir Robert Shirley, Bt. (from 1677 Baron
Ferrers, from 1711 Earl Ferrers). (fn. 567) Elizabeth and
Sir Robert sold it to Thomas Hayward in 1677. (fn. 568)
Hayward (d. 1724) (fn. 569) was succeeded by his son
Philip, rector of Ham, who sold the manor to
Charles, duke of Queensberry, in 1735. (fn. 570)

Most of the land of the manor was in an estate
of 843 a., consisting of West Amesbury farm,
land and a farmstead called Fargo, and 51 a. in
Normanton, which was sold with Viney's farm
in 1916 by Sir Cosmo Antrobus to I. C. Crook. (fn. 571)
Crook sold to the National Trust 389 a. in 1927
and 396 a. in 1929: the trust owned the land in
1993. (fn. 572)

Several freeholds, mostly in West Amesbury,
were merged as an estate called SOUTH'S. (fn. 573) An
estate in West Amesbury apparently descended
in the Saucer family: lands there were held in
1242–3 by John Saucer, of Patrick de Montfort
as mesne lord, (fn. 574) in the later 13th century by the
same or another John Saucer, (fn. 575) by Robert Saucer
(d. by 1393) and his relict Alice, (fn. 576) and by Thomas
Saucer (d. by 1428). Robert's and Thomas's
lands passed to Robert's daughters Isabel, wife
of Walter Messager (fl. 1428), and Anne, wife of
Thomas Hobbes (fl. 1428), (fn. 577) and to his grandsons
John Messager (fl. 1483), a priest, and Thomas
Hobbes. (fn. 578) John Messager's lands may have
passed to Hobbes, most of whose estate was
bought from his descendants by William South
(d. 1552) in the period 1523–8. (fn. 579) South's estate
descended to his son Thomas, who in 1577
settled it on his son Thomas (d. 1606), and to
the younger Thomas's son Edward. (fn. 580) The first
three Souths added to it, (fn. 581) and in 1614 Edward
sold it to Robert Newdick: (fn. 582) from c. 1615
South's descended with West Amesbury
manor. (fn. 583)

Part of the younger Thomas Hobbes's estate
was acquired from his grandson William Silverthorn by Gilbert Beckington in 1517. At
Gilbert's death in 1527–8 BECKINGTON'S
estate passed to his son John (fn. 584) (fl. 1581). (fn. 585) In
1568 John conveyed it to his son Mellor, (fn. 586) whose
son Gilbert held it in 1581. (fn. 587) Gilbert was succeeded c. 1615 (fn. 588) by his son Gilbert (fl. 1654),
whose son Gilbert sold the estate, 1½ yardland,
to Simon Shepherd 1662–4. In 1678 Shepherd
sold it to Thomas Hayward, (fn. 589) and it was merged
with West Amesbury manor. (fn. 590)

An estate in West Amesbury, LAMBERT'S,
descended with Langford Dangers manor in
Little Langford from the mid 13th century to
the mid 14th. (fn. 591) Ralph Dangers held it in the mid
13th century, (fn. 592) John Dangers in 1309, (fn. 593) John
Dangers in 1364, when it was 2 yardlands, (fn. 594) and
William Dangers in 1397. (fn. 595) William's heir was
his son Richard whose relict Christine, wife of
John Kaynell, sold it to Edmund Lambert c.
1482. (fn. 596) Lambert (d. 1493) was succeeded by his
sons William (fn. 597) (d. 1504) and Thomas (fn. 598) (d. 1509)
in turn and by Thomas's son William (born c.
1508), (fn. 599) who was presumably the William Lambert who in 1569 sold the land to the elder
Thomas South. (fn. 600)

From 1409 or earlier a small estate in West
Amesbury descended with Normanton manor. (fn. 601)
It was bought from William Trenchard by the
younger Thomas South in 1584. (fn. 602)

Land in West Amesbury given in 1452 by
Thomas Saucer and his wife Christine to Robert
Saucer (fl. 1476) (fn. 603) was apparently that held at
his death in 1502 by Giles Saucer, whose heir
was his son Thomas, a minor. (fn. 604) Its later descent
is obscure.

In the later 12th century Bradenstoke priory
was given rents of 12d. from Amesbury and 12s.
from West Amesbury, and c. 1200 was given I
yardland. (fn. 605) The yardland had apparently been
alienated by 1205, (fn. 606) as the 12s. rent was in the
mid 13th century. (fn. 607) The priory had land in the
parish in 1232, (fn. 608) temporalities worth 9.s.2d. in
1291, (fn. 609) and ½ yardland in 1364: (fn. 610) no later reference to its estate there has been found.

Maud Everard gave land in Amesbury to
Lacock abbey, (fn. 611) and in 1241 Ela Longespée,
abbess of Lacock and previously lord of Amesbury manor, gave 40s. rent from West Amesbury. (fn. 612)
The abbey was entitled to the rent, due from
Amesbury priory, until the Dissolution, (fn. 613) but
there is no evidence that it kept the land.

The land in Amesbury held by Saier de
Quency, earl of Winchester (d. 1219), his wife
Margaret (d. 1235), and his son Roger, earl of
Winchester (d. 1264), (fn. 614) may have been the later
COUNTESS COURT manor, also called the
Conyger manor. (fn. 615) What did become the manor
was held in 1242–3 of the lord of Amesbury
manor by Everard Tyes as ¼ knight's fee. (fn. 616)
Everard's relict Rametta held it as dower. In
1248 she leased it for 15 years to Sir William
Longespé, (fn. 617) either him who was lord of Amesbury manor and died in 1250 or his son,
namesake, and heir; by 1253, when the younger
Sir William (d. 1257) leased it for life with
reversion to himself or his heirs, he had apparently acquired the inheritance. (fn. 618) The estate
presumably passed with Amesbury manor to the
younger Sir William's daughter and heir Margaret, but the later claim, probably mistaken,
that her husband Henry, earl of Lincoln (d.
1311), lord of Amesbury manor in her right,
acquired it from what would have been another
Everard Tyes (fn. 619) was accepted, and from 1311 to
her death by 1322 the estate was held as dower
by Henry's relict Joan. (fn. 620) Henry's heir was his
and Margaret's daughter Alice (d. 1348) who
married Thomas, earl of Lancaster, and in 1322
the estate was claimed by the king because
Thomas's lands had been forfeited: (fn. 621) the claim
was evidently unjustified and the estate was
restored to Alice. In 1326 she and her husband
Ebles Lestrange, from 1327 Lord Strange (d.
1335), were licensed to settle it on themselves
for life with remainder to the younger Hugh le
Despenser, Lord le Despenser, but may not have
done so before Despenser was executed in that
year. (fn. 622) They later settled it on themselves and
their heirs, and between 1335 and 1341 Alice
and Ebles's nephew and heir Roger Lestrange,
Lord Strange (d. 1349), conveyed it, presumably
by sale, to Nicholas de Cauntelo, Lord Cauntelo
(d. 1355). The estate was given before 1341 to
Nicholas's son William (fn. 623) (d. 1375), from 1355
Lord Cauntelo, but before 1375 to William's son
William (of age c. 1366, d. 1375). In 1364 it was
held by Lady Isabel de Tours, presumably by a
temporary tenure. In 1375 it passed from the
younger William to the elder and apparently to
William la Zouche, Lord Zouche, a coheir of the
younger William. (fn. 624)

Zouche held the manor at his death in 1382.
It passed to his son William, Lord Zouche (d.
1396), (fn. 625) and to that William's son William, Lord
Zouche (d. 1415), who was named as owner in
1401–2, but it was acquired by that last William's brother Sir John, who held it in 1412 (fn. 626)
and 1434. (fn. 627) Sir John's daughter and heir Elizabeth, wife of Sir Nicholas Bowet, left as heirs
her daughters Margaret, wife of John Chaworth,
and Elizabeth, wife of William Chaworth and
later of John Dunham. (fn. 628) The manor was apparently assigned to John and Margaret Chaworth
in 1458, (fn. 629) passed on Margaret's death in 1482,
when she was the relict of Humphrey Persall, to
her son Thomas Chaworth, (fn. 630) and at Thomas's
death without issue in 1486 (fn. 631) reverted to Elizabeth. John Dunham held the manor from
Elizabeth's death in 1502 (fn. 632) to his own in 1524,
it passed to their son Sir John Dunham (fn. 633) (d.
1533), (fn. 634) and descended to Sir John's daughter
Anne, wife of Francis Meverell (d. 1564). (fn. 635) The
Meverells were succeeded by their son Sampson
(d. 1584), whose relict Elizabeth, (fn. 636) wife of Sir
Edward Leighton (d. 1593), (fn. 637) held the manor
until her death in 1620. (fn. 638) Before 1614 her eldest
son Francis Meverell conveyed the reversion to
his brother Robert, (fn. 639) from whose death in 1627
Countess Court manor was held by his relict
Elizabeth. (fn. 640) By 1632 the manor had passed to
Robert's daughter and heir Elizabeth, wife of
Thomas Cromwell, Lord Cromwell (cr. earl of
Ardglass 1645), (fn. 641) who in 1646 sold it to Robert
Gale (fn. 642) (d. 1656). In 1660 Gale's relict Elizabeth
Gale sold a lease of the manor for 99 years from
1646 to John Wadman (d. 1688), and in 1674
Gale's son Robert sold the reversion to Wadman's son Robert (d. 1691). The manor
descended to Robert Wadman's son John (d.
1745) and to that John's son John, (fn. 643) who in 1760
sold it to Charles, duke of Queensberry. (fn. 644)

In 1917 Sir Cosmo Antrobus sold Countess
farm, 1,141 a., to Wort & Way, (fn. 645) the owner of
Red House farm. (fn. 646) In 1929 Wort & Way sold
the west part, 649 a., to the National Trust. In
1993 the trust owned that land, (fn. 647) members of
the Wort family the remaining c. 500 a. (fn. 648)

In 1066 Earl Harold held 2 hides at RATFYN,
Aluric 1 hide. Harvey of Wilton held land there
in 1084, and in 1086 held the 2 hides in chief
and the 1 hide of Edward of Salisbury. (fn. 649) Harvey
gave the 1 hide, of which Edward's son Walter
of Salisbury (d. 1147) was overlord at the time
of the gift, and apparently the 2 hides, to Salisbury cathedral, and the cathedral endowed a
prebend of Ratfyn with its land there; c. 1115
the king confirmed the arrangement, (fn. 650) and
thenceforward the prebendary's was evidently
the only estate at Ratfyn. The prebend was
dissolved in 1545 by Act, and in an exchange the
bishop of Salisbury gave the Ratfyn estate to
Edward, earl of Hertford, (fn. 651) on whose attainder
in 1552 it passed to the Crown. (fn. 652) In 1554 the
reversion on the death of the last prebendary was
granted to David Vincent. (fn. 653) In 1559 Vincent
sold the estate to trustees of Ralph Lamb, and
in 1562 the trustees conveyed it to St. John's
hospital, Winchester. (fn. 654) The hospital owned Ratfyn farm, 502 a., until in 1841 it sold it to Sir
Edmund Antrobus. (fn. 655) In 1916 Sir Cosmo Antrobus sold the land to A. C. Young, who in 1919
sold it to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries.
In 1960 the Ministry of Agriculture sold Ratfyn
farm to Ratfyn Estates Ltd., a company controlled by H. J. Street; (fn. 656) in 1965 Street's executors
sold it, then 681 a., to Lincoln College, Oxford,
the owner in 1992. (fn. 657)

Tithes from Amesbury parish may have been
taken by Amesbury abbey, and in 1179 they were
confirmed to Amesbury priory. (fn. 658) At the Dissolution the RECTORY estate consisted of the
oblations given in the parish church, all tithes
from the whole parish, and possibly a house. (fn. 659)
Henry VIII gave it, with the priory's land in
Amesbury, to Edward, earl of Hertford, in the
exchange of 1541; (fn. 660) in 1547 Edward VI received
it back from Edward, then duke of Somerset, in
an exchange and gave it to St. George's chapel,
Windsor. (fn. 661) It was confiscated by parliament in
1643, (fn. 662) assigned to the almshouses of Windsor
castle in 1654, (fn. 663) and recovered by the chapel at
the Restoration. (fn. 664) The tithes were valued at
£955 in 1843 and commuted in 1847. (fn. 665)

In 1179 Henry II confirmed to Amesbury
priory 5 a. of corn from Ratfyn, possibly representing an estate of tithes held until 1177 by
Amesbury abbey. (fn. 666) In the early 15th century
Amesbury priory apparently took corn from 6 a.
in place of tithes from the demesne land of
Ratfyn and tithes in kind from the other land
there. Later the priory gave all the tithes to the
prebendary of Ratfyn in exchange for a fee-farm
rent of 26s. 8d., the sum at which the tithes were
valued in 1341. (fn. 667) After the prebend was dissolved, the tithes remained part of the Ratfyn
estate, (fn. 668) which was considered tithe free in
1843. (fn. 669) The rent, apparently not granted with
the Rectory estate in 1541, (fn. 670) seems to have been
kept by the Crown until 1553, when it was last
mentioned, and to have been granted with the
Ratfyn estate in 1554 and extinguished. (fn. 671)

From the Dissolution the demesne lands of
Amesbury priory, reckoned 331 a. in 1843, were
tithe free. (fn. 672) For the use of the curate serving the
parish church, St. George's chapel reserved a
parsonage house from leases of the Rectory
estate from 1612, (fn. 673) and the oblations and some
small tithes from 1630: (fn. 674) all three became part of
the curate's living. (fn. 675)

Agriculture.

Amesbury, c. 3,100 a., and
West Amesbury, c. 1,350 a., each had a set of
open fields and common pastures until the 18th
century. The lands of Countess Court manor, c.
800 a., and Ratfyn, c. 500 a., (fn. 676) were separate from
them, and in each of those two northern quadrants of the parish there was almost certainly a
set of open fields and common pastures in the
Middle Ages. (fn. 677)

Amesbury. In 1086 the king's Amesbury estate
had land for 40 plough teams, and 39 were on it:
there were 16 teams, 55 servi, and 2 coliberts on
demesne land, 85 villani and 56 bordars had 23
teams, and there were 70 a. of meadow and 12
square leagues of pasture. (fn. 678) It is likely that much
of the land of Durrington was reckoned as part
of the estate, as land elsewhere may have been; (fn. 679)
it is also likely that much, perhaps most, of the
estate was at Amesbury, where later the demesne
and customary lands of Amesbury manor seem
to have been in a proportion roughly equal to
that on the Amesbury estate in 1086. (fn. 680) Other
land at Amesbury in 1086 was sufficient for 2
teams, and there were apparently 2 on it; there
were 5 coscets and 3 servi, 6 a. of meadow, and
1 square furlong of pasture. (fn. 681)

In the later 12th century the demesne of
Amesbury manor included several pasture for
cattle, (fn. 682) and in the early 13th century extensive
several pasture for sheep: nearly all Amesbury's
other land, including some meadow and some
pasture for cattle, was evidently used in common. (fn. 683) The demesne was in hand in 1295–6,
when it was possibly cultivated largely by labour
service: 309 a. of cereals and 11 a. of peas and
vetch were sown, 36 a. were mown, 1,214 sheep
and 46 draught beasts were kept, and there was
a rabbit warren. (fn. 684) The demesne pastures were
presumably on Slay down, as they were later. (fn. 685)
In 1304–5 there were 1,229 sheep and 42 draught
animals. (fn. 686) By 1364 half the demesne arable, 145
a., and some of the pastures in severalty, including two totalling 80 a. on which 300 sheep could
be fed, had been leased. The leased arable was
apparently in six open fields and consisted of 68
parcels, of which 11 were in hand in 1364
because no tenant could be found. The arable
which had not been leased, 144 a. of which 83
a. were sown in 1364, was in only nine furlongs
and apparently consisted of the whole of each
furlong. That division of the demesne arable into
larger parcels in hand and smaller parcels leased
perhaps foreshadowed its separation from the
open fields. There were 21½ a. of demesne
meadow in 1364. (fn. 687)

The customary lands of Amesbury manor in
1364 were in yardlands (each of 24–50 a.),
cotsetlands (each of 12 a.), and croftlings: 6½
yardlands were in 8 holdings shared among 7
tenants, 10 cotsetlands were shared among 9
tenants, and there were 5 croftlings. The yardlanders, of whom 1 held freely and 6 in
villeinage, 3 of the cotsetlanders, and those
holding croftlings, did no labour service: all the
cotsetlanders held in villeinage, and 6 of them
had to make hay and serve as ploughmen, drovers, or shepherds. The yardlands were stinted at
8 pigs each free from pannage, and later evidence
shows each to have included generous stints for
sheep, horses, and cattle. Land in the open fields
and rights to feed animals were also in other
freeholds of Amesbury manor, the largest of
which was presumably what became Coombes
Court farm. (fn. 688) In 1437 Saucer's, 1 yardland,
included 2 a. of meadow and feeding for 70
sheep, 4 horses, 8 fat beasts, and 8 pigs. (fn. 689)

The whole demesne of Amesbury manor had
been leased by c. 1400. (fn. 690) In 1540 it had 320 a.
of arable, apparently none of it in the open fields,
26 a. of meadow of which 20 a. in Wittenham
were expressly said to be several, 60 a. of pasture
called Northams, and feeding for 1,800 sheep
(1,560 wethers and 240 ewes). Cattle other than
the farmer's could be fed on Northams from 1
August to 11 November, the farmer could feed
16 cows and 1 bull in the open fields, and Sour
mead, in which there were 6 a. of demesne, may
have been a common meadow: otherwise the
demesne, later called Earl's farm, was mainly in
severalty, with feeding for 1,300 sheep on Earl's
down (presumably Slay down) and for 500 on
South down (presumably Blackcross Farm
down). (fn. 691) On the other land of Amesbury husbandry in common was practised until the later
18th century. (fn. 692) In 1540 there may have been c.
10 open fields of which three, Barnard's (later
Bartnett), Blackcross, and Cuckold's Hill, bore
the names they had in the 18th century. Meadows in addition to Sour mead may have been
used in common, and there were for cattle a
downland pasture and a common pasture near
the Avon and for sheep common downs including Woolston Hill and Kitcombe (later
Kickdom). In 1540 the largest farms with openfield arable were apparently Coombes Court and
Priory, but most of the fields was divided among
c. 20 yardlands and c. 25 cotsetlands or 'corticels'
held freely, by copy, or by other customary
tenure of Amesbury manor. A yardland was
typically of c. 30 a. with feeding for c. 75 sheep,
4 horses, and 4 cows, and a cotsetland of c. 13
a. with feeding for 1 cow or 1 horse. Some
tenants had more than one holding, but only one
tenant is known to have held, and only one other
is likely to have held, more than 100 a., and in
the mid 16th century much of Amesbury's open
fields was apparently in farms of less than 50 a. (fn. 693)

At the Dissolution Amesbury priory's agricultural land in Amesbury parish was all in
demesne. Of its 290 strips of arable in open
fields, probably c. 175 were in Amesbury and
the rest in West Amesbury; the priory could feed
74 sheep with the tenants' flocks in Amesbury
and 300 on a several down in West Amesbury;
its 22 a. of meadow were probably near the site
of the priory. (fn. 694) Some of the arable was leased in
parcels of 1–10 a. to tenants at will, later on lives,
and was called Billet land: 86 a., mostly in
Amesbury's fields, were Billet land in 1560. (fn. 695)
The remainder was part of Priory farm, later
called the Abbey lands, (fn. 696) which in the late 16th
century was held by the tenant of Earl's farm. (fn. 697)
In 1605 Coombes Court farm included c. 240 a.
of arable and feeding for 420 sheep. (fn. 698)

From 1566 or earlier men of Boscombe
claimed the right to feed sheep on all or part of
Blackcross down, a claim denied by the men of
Amesbury. (fn. 699) The dispute was lengthy: c. 1595,
for example, the court of the Earldom manor
ordered that the Boscombe sheep should be
beaten back thrice a week or more. (fn. 700) It was
apparently ended by assigning 36 a. of the down
for use in common by Amesbury and Boscombe:
that had been done by 1726. (fn. 701)

In 1586 it was agreed that every year the town
flock, the hog flock of Earl's farm, and the
Coombes Court farm flock should be folded as
one on the open fields: three shepherds were to
be employed, one to be provided by the owners
or owner of the sheep in each flock, and those
with open-field arable but no sheep were to pay
12d. an acre towards the keeping of the combined flock. (fn. 702) Whether the scheme was adopted
and, if so, for how long are obscure.

In 1598 a plan was made to divide Earl's farm
into 16 equal holdings of 1 yardland to be leased
separately, but the plan came to naught: in 1608
the lessee of the whole farm agreed to build a
new farmhouse. (fn. 703) In 1606–7 Priory farm was
leased without the meadows and parkland
around Lord Hertford's house; it too was to have
a new farmhouse. (fn. 704) Lord Hertford's park contained 8 a. in 1605, when two burrows were
made and 14 pairs of rabbits introduced, (fn. 705) and
in 1635 c. 33 a. around the house. (fn. 706)

In 1635 Earl's farm had three several arable
fields, 245 a., east of the village, 32 a. of several
arable on Woolston Hill south of it, and a 12-a.
parcel in an open field. Earl's down, c. 420 a.,
was several, and two other downs, Woolston Hill
and part of Blackcross down, were for the exclusive use of a flock consisting of 400 sheep of
Earl's farm and 74 of a copyholder: the farm
included 8 a. of downland in two pennings and
the right to fold 1,200 sheep on the open fields.
Apart from the first cut of 3 a., Wittenham mead
was solely for the farm, as was most of the hay,
but not the aftermath, of Sour mead, 8½ a.; the
feeding of Northams was still shared in autumn.
In 1635 Amesbury still had c. 10 open fields, on
which a three-field rotation was evidently practised; each of the larger farms included meadow
land, but apparently little meadow was cultivated in common. Sheep were fed in common
on Blackcross down, c. 150 a., Kitcombe down,
c. 50 a., and Southam down, c. 80 a. Cattle were
fed in common on the lowland in Cow leaze,
7½ a., and on Rother down, c. 80 a.: Rother down
was formerly part of Earl's down and was fed on
by the town herd from 3 May to 11 November
and by the wethers of Earl's farm from 11
November to 25 March. The largest holdings of
open-field land were in Pavyhold, 190 a., and
Coombes Court farm. Priory farm probably had
c. 100 a., and four freeholds of the Earldom
manor, including Saucer's, had a total of c. 110
a. Copyholds of the Earldom manor included c.
475 a.; Billet land measured c. 73 a. Only
Pavyhold, Priory farm, and the yardlands, 3
freehold and 6½ copyhold, had feeding for sheep
in common, and the flock numbered c. 1,350;
Coombes Court farm may have had a several
down for sheep, as it did later. The c. 15
cotsetlands of the Earldom manor included c.
170 a.: they and the larger holdings had feeding
for cattle, but no feeding right was held with
Billet land. There were three main copyholds,
of 77 a., 108 a., and 115 a., with feeding for 192,
192, and 252 sheep respectively, and evidently
more than two thirds of the open-field land was
in holdings of more than 50 a. (fn. 707)

Between 1635 and 1725 the division of Amesbury's lands between several and commonable,
the arrangement of open fields and common
downs, and the division of the land among the
farms seem to have changed little. (fn. 708) The watering of meadows may have begun c. 1658: in that
year Moor hatches on the Amesbury—Normanton boundary were licensed by the Earldom
manor court. (fn. 709) Some meadows remained in common use, (fn. 710) and c. 1724 Defoe praised the quality
of Amesbury's meadow land. (fn. 711) By 1720 the
lessee of Earl's farm, Windsor Sandys (d. 1729)
of Brimpsfield (Glos.), had divided it by subletting 241 a. of its arable and meadows, and 180
a. of its downland, in six portions. (fn. 712) Over 200 a.
of the farm's downland had been ploughed by
1726. (fn. 713) Pavyhold, 4 yardlands in 1646, Priory,
held from 1725 or earlier without its land in
West Amesbury, and Coombes Court remained
among the largest farms with open-field land, (fn. 714)
and in the early 18th century may all have been
held by one tenant. (fn. 715) About 1702, as in 1635,
each of two copyholds included over 100 a. of
arable, and one 77 a. (fn. 716) A proposal of 1725 to
inclose Townend Little field and Cuckold's Hill
field depended on the abandonment of the right
to feed Earl's farm sheep on the two fields with
the town herd after harvest and of the right to
take the town herd across Earl's farm summer
fields: (fn. 717) it was not implemented. (fn. 718)

In 1726 Amesbury had c. 1,300 a. of arable.
There were c. 850 a. in nine open fields, Little
field over the water (c. 15 a.) and Townend Little
(22 a.), Cuckold's Hill (71 a.), Blackcross (175
a.), Bartnett (172 a.), Southmillhill (150 a.),
Great Southam (167 a.), Little Southam (60 a.),
and Woolston Hill (c. 30 a.): the fields contained
c. 96 furlongs in which there were c. 730 parcels
of land. In addition Earl's farm had c. 436 a. of
several arable of which c. 191 a. were formerly
downland pasture. There remained c. 1,540 a. of
such pasture. The common downs for sheep
were Blackcross Town (385 a. including 36 a.
shared with men of Boscombe), Lower (139 a.),
and Kickdom (78 a.). Earl's farm had Slay down
(477 a.) in severalty and Blackcross Farm down
(123 a.), Woolston Hill (53 a.), and Pigeon Hill
(5 a.) shared with a copyholder; Coombes Court
farm had a several down, Viner's (106 a.). Cow
down, formerly Rother down and still shared by
the town herd and Earl's farm sheep, was 172 a.
Lowland pastures used in common totalled c. 19
a., and there were over 200 a. of meadow and
other lowland pasture, some of which was in
each of the larger farms. In addition there were
c. 50 a. of grassland and parkland around Amesbury Abbey. Earl's farm contained 1,393 a.,
including Cow down, but was still sublet in
portions. Coombes Court farm (otherwise
Viner's or Southam) had 61 parcels in the open
fields, Pavyhold 138: for reasons that are obscure
the parcels belonging to Coombes Court farm
were on average much larger than those of other
farms, and the farm had its several down instead
of feeding for sheep in common. Priory farm had
a nominal 71 a. in the open fields, and the two
largest copyholds nominally 138 a. and 83 a.; a
nominal 160 a. was shared among c. 21 other
holdings. The 602 a. of common sheep downs
were for 1,301 sheep including 274 in respect of
Pavyhold, 74 of Priory farm, and 636 of the two
largest copyholds. Pavyhold, Coombes Court
farm, and the two largest copyholds all had
farmsteads in Salisbury Road. (fn. 719)

It appears that immediately on entering on the
Earldom and Priory manors in 1725 Charles,
duke of Queensberry, (fn. 720) adopted the policy of
merging all the open-field land which he owned
into a single farm. A farmhouse called the Red
House had evidently been built by 1726 on the
second largest copyhold, (fn. 721) and as other copy
holds and leaseholds fell in hand their lands were
added to Red House farm. (fn. 722) To accelerate the
process Queensberry leased land from some
copyholders and leaseholders, bought out others, and became tenant of Saucer's. (fn. 723) In the mid
1750s nearly a third of the parcels in the open
fields were in Red House farm. (fn. 724) From 1760,
when Queensberry owned nearly all Amesbury's
land, (fn. 725) the policy was refined. A dairy farm (fn. 726) and
a farm apparently worked from Kent House
were already in hand, and gradually all the other
land was brought in hand: Red House farm was
in hand at Michaelmas 1759, Viner's from 1760
or 1761, (fn. 727) part of Earl's by 1764, when 1,010
sheep were sheared on that part, (fn. 728) and Pavyhold
and most of the other land by the later 1760s. (fn. 729)
In 1770 the last tenant of a substantial copyhold
gave up his open-field land in an exchange with
Queensberry, (fn. 730) common husbandry was thus
ended, and most of the former open fields and
common downs were laid out as two several
farms, Red House and Southam. (fn. 731) In 1771 there
were between the town and the Avon c. 60 a. of
the gardens and parkland of Amesbury Abbey,
Earl's farm was 1,085 a., and Kent House farm
was 80 a., including most of Townend Little
field and most of Cuckold's Hill field. Red
House farm was 853 a., including Blackcross and
Bartnett fields, Blackcross Town and Blackcross
Farm downs, and part of Kickdom down: its 346
a. of arable had been arranged as four equally
sized fields. Southam farm was 847 a., including
Southmillhill, Great Southam, and Little
Southam fields and Viner's, Lower, and Woolston Hill downs: 332 a. of its arable had been
divided into four equally sized fields. Amesbury
had a total of 102 a. of watered meadows, and
the three main farms had 1,372 a. of 'maiden'
down, 27 a. of downland pennings, and 223 a.
of sown grass on downland formerly ploughed. (fn. 732)
The farms remained in hand, and were evidently
individually managed, until 1778, the year in
which the duke of Queensberry died. (fn. 733)

Amesbury Fields and Downs c. 1726

From 1778 to c. 1900 the c. 5,800 a. of agricultural land of Amesbury parish was in few and
very large farms. (fn. 734) Kent House or Park farm, to
which the parkland around Amesbury Abbey
was added as farmland, remained in hand until
1788. (fn. 735) Earl's, Red House, and Southam farms
were leased from 1778: Red House and Southam
were held together 1780–1915. (fn. 736) In 1809 Earl's
was 1,106 a. including 635 a. of downland
pasture and 439 a. of arable, of which 131 a. were
downland; Red House was 872 a. including 462
a. of downland pasture and 366 a. of arable;
Southam was 858 a. including 357 a. of downland pasture and 433 a. of arable. The watered
meadows of Amesbury were admired by William
Marshall in 1794, and Earl's, Red House,
Southam, and Kent House farms had a total of
c. 117 a. (fn. 737) The need to repair Moor hatches led
to a dispute with the owners of Normanton farm:
in 1804 a new channel taking water away from
Moor hatches was cut to the east, and 9 a. more
of meadows, part of Southam farm, were watered. (fn. 738) In 1823 much of the land of Kent House
farm east of the Avon was added to Earl's farm. (fn. 739)
In 1825 Earl's was 1,173 a., the combined Red
House and Southam 1,752 a.: the two farms were
roughly divided by the Newton Tony road.
Arable had been increased to c. 1,600 a. by 1825,
when Earl's farm contained 315 a. of ploughed
downland: (fn. 740) in riots against threshing machines
two ricks were burnt at Amesbury in 1830, (fn. 741) and
there had been a further small increase in arable
by c. 1845. (fn. 742) On the combined Red House and
Southam farm the lessee, William Long, employed 30 men, 16–18 women, and c. 17 boys in
1867. (fn. 743)

Earl's farm was divided in the early 20th
century. In 1910 only the western part, then
called Earls Court farm, 292 a., was worked from
the principal buildings in Earls Court Road; the
middle part was in Ratfyn farm; the eastern part
of Slay down, 300 a. on which there were farm
buildings, was, possibly as Beacon Hill farm,
part of the Cholderton estate. From 1915 Earls
Court farm's meadow and pasture near the
Avon, 44 a., were detached from it. (fn. 744) From 1919
the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries used the
remainder of Earls Court farm, 236 a. east of the
town, bounded north by the railway and south
by the Newton Tony road and extending east of
the Marlborough road, as a farm colony: by 1923
c. 20 smallholdings, the smallest of 2 a., the
largest of 30 a., had been leased, presumably to
former soldiers. (fn. 745) Mainly after 1945 nearly all
that land was built on. (fn. 746) The remainder of Earl's
farm was in Ratfyn farm from 1915 to the 1930s,
when Beacon Hill farm, c. 450 a., and Pennings
farm, c. 260 a., were formed. Beacon Hill farm,
464 a., was mainly arable in 1993, when some
cattle were kept for beef. Pennings, with buildings south of the London road and New Barn
north of it, has since the 1930s been used in
conjunction with land in West Amesbury: in
1993 its land was mainly arable and some of its
buildings housed cattle. (fn. 747) Over 300 a. of the old
Earl's farm, including Cow down, were still part
of Ratfyn farm in 1993 and almost entirely arable. (fn. 748)

Red House farm, 964 a. between the main
Salisbury road and the Newton Tony road, and
Southam, thereafter Viney's, farm, 744 a. west
of the Salisbury road, were separate again from
1915. (fn. 749) Both were entirely pasture in the 1930s. (fn. 750)
Red House was greatly reduced from 1927 by
the growth of Boscombe Down airfield. (fn. 751) In the
later 20th century the reduced farm was worked
from the farmstead called Stockport on the old
Kickdom down and from large new buildings in
the old Blackcross field. In 1993 Red House was
an arable farm of 300 a. worked from the new
buildings. Stockport farm, c. 150 a., but without
Stockport farmstead, was separated from it in
the later 1980s and, mainly arable in 1993, was
worked in conjunction with Pennings farm and
land in West Amesbury. (fn. 752) In 1993 Viney's, 705
a., was a mainly arable farm worked from later
20th-century buildings a little south of the
town. (fn. 753)

West Amesbury. There is evidence of open
fields, common meadows, and common pasture
for sheep and cattle in West Amesbury in the
earlier 13th century. Holdings based in the
village, like those based in Amesbury, included
yardlands and cotsetlands, (fn. 754) and there was evidently no large demesne. (fn. 755) In the 14th century
there were apparently three or more open
fields. (fn. 756) Then and in the 15th sheep stints were
generous: in 1328 a holding of 4 yardlands had
feeding for 300 wethers, (fn. 757) in 1428 one of 1
yardland feeding for 200 sheep, (fn. 758) and in 1497
one of ½ yardland feeding for 50 sheep. Holdings
also included rights to feed cattle and pigs. (fn. 759)

In the early 16th century most of West Amesbury's land was in West Amesbury manor,
freeholds, and the demesne of Amesbury priory; (fn. 760) a few acres were in Coombes Court manor
and customary holdings of Amesbury manor. (fn. 761)
In 1502 the heirs of Thomas Hobbes shared c.
125 parcels, nominally c. 150 a., in the open
fields; (fn. 762) in 1511 the demesne of West Amesbury
manor, 4 yardlands, was said to include 80 a. of
arable; (fn. 763) in 1535 Amesbury priory evidently had
in the fields c. 115 parcels, of which after the
Dissolution most were in Priory farm and some
in smallholdings of Billet land. (fn. 764) In 1511 West
Amesbury manor also included land held by
tenants at will. (fn. 765)

In the early 16th century there were open fields
called Halfbarrow, Middle West, and West; (fn. 766) in
the early 17th there was a small fourth field
called Walls covering Vespasian's camp. (fn. 767) In the
early 17th century there was a common pasture
for cattle near the Avon, and meadow land was
used in common; (fn. 768) the watering of meadows in
West Amesbury presumably began, as apparently in Amesbury, in the mid 17th century. (fn. 769)
The downland pasture for sheep was extensive, (fn. 770)
and stints remained generous. (fn. 771) At the Dissolution Amesbury priory had feeding for 300 sheep
which were presumably then, as they were c.
1574 and later, kept on the open fields and in
severalty on Abbey down: (fn. 772) in 1615 or 1616 it
was claimed that for the Priory manor only 250
might be kept on the fields every fourth year. (fn. 773)
There was also downland pasture for cattle in
common. (fn. 774) In 1635 Abbey down was said to be
c. 120 a., Cow down c. 90 a. (fn. 775)

In the 16th century several of the freeholds
were brought into single ownership, and from
the early 17th most land in West Amesbury
belonged to the lord of West Amesbury manor. (fn. 776)
The demesne farm of the manor was greatly
increased, and in the earlier 17th century was
one of apparently only four farms based in West
Amesbury. In 1621 it had 246 a. of arable,
including 235 a. in West Amesbury, 11 a. of
apparently inclosed meadow, 3½ a. of common
meadow, 13 a. of inclosed pasture, and feeding
for 800 sheep; by then most of the arable had
been accumulated into large pieces, including
one of 52 a., one of 51 a., and one of 47 a. The
manor also included farms of 93 a. and 60 a. with
feeding for a total of 310 sheep. (fn. 777) Beckington's,
said in 1635 to be 50 a., was 1½ yardland. Priory
farm, with c. 87 a. and Abbey down in West
Amesbury in 1635, was worked from Amesbury,
and c. 20 a. of Billet land were in other holdings. (fn. 778)

In 1726 West Amesbury had 437 a. of arable
in four open fields, Halfbarrow (176 a.), Middle
(136 a.), West (101 a.), and Walls (24 a.); there
were 814 a. of downland, Cow down (158 a.),
Abbey down (152 a.), and Stonehenge down
(504 a.), and West hill was a common pasture of
7 a. There were c. 20 a. of watered meadow, and
c. 22 a. of other lowland pasture. (fn. 779) After 1678 (fn. 780)
none but the tenants of West Amesbury manor
had a right to feed sheep on Stonehenge down
or cattle on Cow down. The lord of the manor
also owned c. 365 a. of the open fields; most of
the remainder was in Priory farm. (fn. 781) With minor
exceptions common husbandry ended either in
1725, when the West Amesbury lands of Priory
farm were sublet to the lord, (fn. 782) or in 1735, when
the duke of Queensberry bought West Amesbury manor. (fn. 783) By 1735 c. 240 a. of downland,
mostly the west part of Stonehenge down, had
been ploughed, and it was intended then to
plough a further 51 a.; immediately after the
purchase 52 a. north-west of Amesbury Abbey
were imparked, 19 a. of Walls field including
Vespasian's camp, and 33 a. of Halfbarrow field;
and in 1735 nearly all the other land was in two
several farms, Homeward, 647 a., and Westward, 387 a. Homeward, probably worked from
the new farmstead on the south side of the village
street, included 7 a. of watered meadow, most,
121 a., of Halfbarrow field, and 491 a. of downland; Westward included a farmstead at the west
end of the village, 13 a. of watered meadow,
most, 192 a., of Middle and West fields, and 166
a. of downland. (fn. 784) About 1740 Abbey down was
part of Westward farm. (fn. 785) The owner of Countess
Court manor had the right to feed sheep on West
Amesbury Cow down from 11 November to 2
February, and 160 sheep from West Amesbury
could be fed for the whole year on Countess
Court downs: (fn. 786) the arrangement probably ceased
in 1760 when the duke of Queensberry bought
Countess Court manor. (fn. 787)

By c. 1750 a further 36 a. had been imparked:
sainfoin was grown on the 88 a. of former open
field in the park. (fn. 788) At its maximum in the 1770s
the park included c. 360 a., of which c. 250 a.
were West Amesbury land, and was impaled. (fn. 789)
Homeward farm and Westward farm were
worked together from the mid 18th century,
when they may have included no more than 400
a. of 'maiden' down. (fn. 790) Like farms in Amesbury
the land was brought in hand c. 1760: (fn. 791) as West
Amesbury farm it measured 935 a. including 30
a. of watered meadow, 86 a. of other meadow
and lowland pasture, only 207 a. of arable, and
610 a. of downland pasture. (fn. 792) It was leased in
1778, (fn. 793) apparently without Cow down, which
was added to Countess Court farm, (fn. 794) and 1,300
sheep were said to be kept on it in 1782. (fn. 795) In or
soon after 1778 the parkland, including c. 50 a.
of the former Countess Court manor, was added
to Kent House farm, worked from Amesbury,
and over 200 a. of it, including the former
Halfbarrow field, were again ploughed. In 1809
West Amesbury, Kent House, and Countess
Court farms were rearranged. From then to 1823
Abbey down, 223 a. of Stonehenge down, and
part of Countess Court down, a total of 411 a.,
were in Kent House farm; Cow down remained
in Countess Court farm; and West Amesbury
farm measured 700 a., including 33 a. of Countess Court down. In 1823 Kent House farm was
divided between West Amesbury, Countess
Court, and Earl's farms. (fn. 796)

West Amesbury farm was 1,071 a. in 1823,
1,010 a. in 1910. Cow down and c. 100 a. of West
Amesbury land formerly in the park were in
Countess Court farm. In 1823 West Amesbury
farm had 33 a. of watered meadow, 32 a. of other
meadow and lowland pasture, 503 a. of arable
including 126 a. on Stonehenge down, and 501
a. of downland pasture. It was worked from
West Amesbury House, and from the mid 19th
century had an additional farmstead called
Fargo. (fn. 797) From 1915 West Amesbury farm was
843 a. including 51 a. in Normanton but excluding West Amesbury House. (fn. 798) Stonehenge
airfield was opened on the land in 1917, and
Fargo farmstead was removed about then; in the
1920s 100 a. of the airfield and some of its
buildings were used for a pig and poultry farm. (fn. 799)
Also from 1915 Countess farm included c. 100
a. of Stonehenge down. (fn. 800) West Amesbury farm
was divided after the National Trust bought it
1927–9. (fn. 801) In 1993 the east part was in a farm
worked from 20th-century buildings north-west
of the village and in conjunction with land
formerly in Countess farm, with Pennings farm,
and with Stockport farm, a total of 1,100 a.; the
composite holding was an arable and beef farm.
The west part of the old West Amesbury farm,
c. 330 a., was worked from Winterbourne Stoke
and was mainly arable. (fn. 802)

Countess Court. The lands called Countess
field and Countess down in the 17th century (fn. 803)
were almost certainly open fields and a common
down in the Middle Ages. In 1726, and perhaps
for long before, there were three fields, Lower,
Middle, and Upper, c. 300 a., and 444 a. of
downland. (fn. 804) In the early 14th century the demesne of Countess Court manor, with 200–300
a. of arable and feeding for many sheep, greatly
outweighed other holdings: (fn. 805) it may have been
in hand in 1332. (fn. 806) In 1311 there were on the
manor three yardlanders, who presumably held
land in the open fields and rights to feed sheep
on the downs, and five cottars; (fn. 807) later evidence
shows that a few, evidently no more than nine,
parcels in the fields were parts of Amesbury
manor and what became South's or Beckington's
in West Amesbury, (fn. 808) and that 160 sheep from
West Amesbury could be fed on the downs. The
land of Countess Court manor became a single
farm, possibly in the later Middle Ages. The
land not owned by the lord, 26 a., was concentrated in Lower field, 78 a. of down were
assigned for the exclusive use of the West Amesbury sheep, but vestiges of common husbandry
remained until 1760, (fn. 809) from when the duke of
Queensberry owned all the land. (fn. 810)

In 1770 Countess Court farm was, like
Queensberry's other farms in the parish,
brought in hand; (fn. 811)c. 50 a. of its arable were
imparked. (fn. 812) In 1771, when 880 sheep were
sheared on it, the farm measured 965 a., including 30 a. of watered meadow, 86 a. of other
meadow and lowland pasture, 257 a. of arable,
55 a. of downland formerly ploughed but then
sown with grass, and 534 a. of 'maiden' down:
the downland included West Amesbury Cow
down. (fn. 813) The farm was leased in 1778, without
the parkland but with Cow down. It was reduced
to 778 a. in 1809, when its downland was
reduced to 400 a. by the transfer of some to Kent
House farm, (fn. 814) and increased to 1,102 a. in 1823,
when Kent House farm was trisected. From
1823 to 1915 the farm included Cow down and
c. 100 a. of West Amesbury land formerly
imparked: in 1823 it had 49 a. of watered
meadow, 44 a. of other meadow and lowland
pasture, 592 a. of arable including 138 a. on the
downs, and 418 a. of downland pasture. (fn. 815) From
the mid 19th century to the later 20th it had an
additional farmstead called Seven Barrows. (fn. 816)
From 1915 the farm, then called Countess farm,
was 1,169 a., to the west bounded on the south
by the Exeter and Shrewton roads. (fn. 817) The west
part of it was bought by the National Trust in
1929, (fn. 818) and in the later 20th century was entirely
pasture: in 1993 c. 140 a. of that part were held
with Countess farm, more with the composite
farm based at West Amesbury, and more still
with Manor farm, Winterbourne Stoke. In 1993
Countess, 640 a. including land north of Stonehenge and land in Durrington, was an arable and
sheep farm. (fn. 819)

Ratfyn. In 1086 Ratfyn had land for 1½
ploughteam: on demesne land there was 1 team,
and on other land there were 8 bordars. There
were 12 a. of meadow and 2¼ square furlongs of
pasture. (fn. 820) Sheep-and-corn husbandry was practised in the Middle Ages: c. 1210 Ratfyn manor
had demesne, stocked with 8 oxen and 450
sheep, and possibly customary tenants. (fn. 821) In 1405
the demesne included 1 carucate of arable and 5
a. of meadow, four tenants each held 10½ a., and
three cottagers each held 2 a.: the arable is likely
to have been in open fields, and a pasture for 500
sheep, presumably downland, was said to have
been used in common. (fn. 822) In the 16th century
Ratfyn's land was apparently all in Ratfyn farm,
which in 1553 was said to have 12 a. of meadow,
12 a. of presumably lowland pasture, 240 a. of
arable, and 140 a. of downland pasture for sheep,
all in severalty. (fn. 823)

In 1846 Ratfyn farm was 502 a., including c.
28 a. of watered meadow, 7 a. of lowland pasture,
c. 338 a. of arable, and c. 118 a. of downland
pasture: (fn. 824) downland had presumably been converted to arable in the 18th century. In the early
20th century the middle part of Earl's farm was
added to Ratfyn farm, which was 912 a. in
1910. (fn. 825) It was further enlarged in 1915 by the
addition of the east part of Earl's farm, including
Slay down, and 53 a. of Red House farm: from
1915 it measured 1,369 a. and, bounded on the
south by the railway, comprised all the northeast part of the parish. (fn. 826) By 1923 it had been
reduced to 1,223 a.; (fn. 827) Pennings farm and Beacon
Hill farm were taken from it in the 1930s. (fn. 828) In
1965 Ratfyn farm was 681 a., including over 300
a. formerly in Earl's farm; in 1993 it was 600 a.,
mainly arable, and worked in conjunction with
land in Bulford and Allington. (fn. 829)

Mills .

There were eight mills on the king's
Amesbury estate in 1086; (fn. 830) it is unlikely that they
were all in what became Amesbury parish. (fn. 831)

Later, every mill in the parish was evidently
driven by the Avon.

Geoffrey le Veel held a mill at Amesbury in
the late 12th century and early 13th, possibly
one of the two mills on Amesbury manor in
1269. (fn. 832) A mill was built or rebuilt on the manor
in 1304–5, (fn. 833) but there was apparently none on it
in the earlier 16th century. (fn. 834) The Earldom
manor court frequently amerced a miller in the
later 16th century; (fn. 835) a mill rebuilt c. 1560, after
fire destroyed a predecessor, (fn. 836) was possibly on
the manor, (fn. 837) and may have been that near West
bridge called Town Mill in 1593. (fn. 838) There was
no mill on the Earldom manor in 1635 (fn. 839) or later.

In the early 16th century Amesbury priory had
two corn mills and a fulling mill immediately
south-west of the parish church and probably
under one roof. (fn. 840) Mills on the site, near that of
Town Mill, were part of the Priory manor and
later called West, Priory, or Abbey Mill. (fn. 841) In the
mid 16th century the mills were used to grind
wheat and malt, but the fulling mill was evidently taken down; in 1582 the mill buildings
were seriously dilapidated and six floodgates
were washed away. (fn. 842) The buildings had not been
restored by 1590, (fn. 843) and in 1595, as a condition
of a new lease, the mills were to be rebuilt. (fn. 844)
West Mill was thereafter referred to as two grist
mills and a fulling mill under one roof, (fn. 845) but in
the 18th century it was used for tanning. (fn. 846) The
mill was damaged by fire in 1761: (fn. 847) there is no
evidence that it was used for milling after that,
and it may have been the mill converted to
stables 1778–81. (fn. 848) It had been demolished by
1812. (fn. 849)

In 1328 there were two mills, possibly under
one roof, on what became West Amesbury
manor, (fn. 850) and there was a mill at West Amesbury
in 1428. (fn. 851) The site of one on the manor and near
West Amesbury village was known in 1636, but
it is very unlikely that a mill stood then (fn. 852) or later.

A mill at Amesbury descended with Countess
Court manor from 1311 or earlier to c. 1760. (fn. 853)
It was called Cleeve Mill in 1364 and 1602, (fn. 854)
perhaps Townsend Mill in 1773, (fn. 855) but South
Mill much more often. In the 14th century there
were said to be two mills, (fn. 856) and in 1602 two mills
under one roof. (fn. 857) In 1646 the buildings included
a fulling mill said to be new, and in 1660
comprised that, the two corn mills, and a mill
house. (fn. 858) A new house may have been built
shortly before 1677. (fn. 859) It is not clear how long
fulling continued. Between c. 1760 and 1838
there were several owners of the mill, including
members of the Miles and Truckle families; it
was bought by Sir Edmund Antrobus in 1838 (fn. 860)
and descended with his Amesbury estate until
1915. The mill, separate from the house and
apparently 18th-century, was raised to four storeys in the 19th century: it was for grinding corn,
was driven by an undershot wheel, and housed
three pairs of stones. (fn. 861) Between 1922 and 1948
it was used to generate electricity, (fn. 862) and was later
converted for residence. A small mill house,
apparently of the 18th century, survives.

Markets.

A Thursday market was granted
in 1219 and 1252 to the lord of Amesbury
manor, (fn. 863) a Saturday market in 1317 to Amesbury
priory, (fn. 864) and a Wednesday market in 1614 to the
lord of the Earldom and Priory manors, (fn. 865) but it
is unlikely that Amesbury ever had more than
one weekly market. It was evidently a general
market for food and agricultural produce: corn
may have been marketed in 1301 (fn. 866) and wine may
have been in 1471, (fn. 867) and there were shambles in
the 14th and 15th centuries. (fn. 868) Market sessions
are known to have been held in 1607. (fn. 869) In 1635
there was a weekly market on Fridays; (fn. 870) the
market house stood at the west end of the market
place. (fn. 871)

Amesbury's market may never have been important, and in the late 17th century was
described as inconsiderable and an occasion
primarily for consuming the fish called loach. (fn. 872)
It continued to be held on Fridays, (fn. 873) and in 1759
the market house was repaired and there were
still shambles. (fn. 874) The market house was taken
down in 1809. (fn. 875) By then the market may have
been no more than nominal: (fn. 876) it was not revived.

Fairs.

A three-day fair at the feast of St.
Melor, one of the patron saints of the church,
was granted in 1252 to the lord of Amesbury
manor, and a similar fair at the same feast, but
not over the same three days, was granted in
1317 to Amesbury priory. (fn. 877) The second grant
may indicate that the first grant had been ineffective or that the fair had lapsed, but it is more
likely that the fair was in 1317 being held within,
or was to be transferred to, the priory precinct,
where it was evidently held later. St. Melor's day
was 1 October, but the fair was probably held
on and about the feast of St. John before the
Latin Gate (6 May), when St. Melor was venerated again. (fn. 878) At the Dissolution a fair on St.
John's day was held by Amesbury priory, (fn. 879)
almost certainly within its precinct. In the 1590s
Edward, earl of Hertford, to whom the priory's
right to hold the fair had passed, sought a new
fairground away from the 'priory garden or
abbey or priory green', and in 1607 leased the
bailiwick of the fair on condition that the fair
was held in the streets of the town: the old
fairground was probably between the site of the
priory, where Lord Hertford lived from c.
1600, (fn. 880) and High Street.

Two new fairs, to be held on 11 June and 23
December, were granted to Lord Hertford in
1614. (fn. 881) The three, the May fair, the Long fair,
and the Short fair, continued until the 19th
century; they were held in the streets, and seem
to have been mainly for trade in livestock,
especially horses and sheep. (fn. 882) After 1752 the
May fair was held on 17 May, the Long fair on
22 or 23 June; the Short fair was held on 17
December from 1760, later on the first Wednesday after 12 December. (fn. 883) In 1830 the fairs were
for trade in cattle and horses, in 1842 were said
to be poorly attended, (fn. 884) and by 1888 had been
discontinued. (fn. 885)

In 1680 a fair at Stonehenge on 25 and 26
September was granted to the lord of West
Amesbury manor, despite an objection that it
would harm the fair at Weyhill (Hants), (fn. 886) and in
1683 a fair on Countess Court downs and fields,
also on 25 and 26 September, was granted to the
lord of Countess Court manor: (fn. 887) it is unlikely
that two fairs were held, and the second grant
was presumably needed because the Stonehenge
fairground was partly on Countess Court down.
From 1752 the fair, on Countess Court down
near Stonehenge, was held on 6 and 7 October. (fn. 888)
It was presumably for sheep. It may have been
held in the later 18th century. (fn. 889) but apparently
not thereafter.

Trade and industry.

It has been suggested that Amesbury priory had a tile factory
at Amesbury in the 13th century. (fn. 890) In the mid
and later 17th century clay pipes for smoking
tobacco were made at Amesbury, and the Amesbury pipes were thought to be the best available.
They were made by the Gauntlet family from
clay dug on the downs of Chitterne St. Mary,
were marked with the outline of a right-hand
gauntlet, and had evidently become renowned
nationally by 1651, when William Russell, earl
of Bedford, bought a gross from Hugh Gauntlet
at the Swan in High Street. (fn. 891) Gauntlet was
succeeded as lessee of the Swan by William
Gauntlet after 1675. (fn. 892) Gabriel Bailey, who may
have acquired the Gauntlets' business, was a
pipe maker at Amesbury in 1698; (fn. 893) no evidence
that the industry flourished at Amesbury thereafter has been found.

Apart from its pipe making, Amesbury was not
known for manufacturing, and until the 20th
century its trade and industry was small-scale
and mostly to satisfy local needs. As a small
market town, on a main road and frequented by
visitors to Stonehenge, innkeeping may for long
have been its most prosperous trade. (fn. 894) A
malthouse incorporating an oast house was to be
built on Earl's farm in 1600, (fn. 895) there were two
malthouses in High Street and one in Smithfield
Street in the earlier 18th century, (fn. 896) there were
still three malthouses in 1800, (fn. 897) and malting
continued to the later 19th century. (fn. 898) A tanner
was working in the town in 1426, (fn. 899) a currier in
1684. (fn. 900) Probably between 1698 and 1714 West
Mill was converted to a tannery for Richard
Andrews; (fn. 901)c. 1735 the tanyard incorporated a
kiln for drying bark. (fn. 902) The tannery was evidently
closed in 1761, when the mill was damaged by
fire. (fn. 903) Tan pits, presumably elsewhere, were
referred to in 1800. (fn. 904) A lime kiln at Southmill
Hill was pulled down in 1761, (fn. 905) and lime pits
were made in the former tanyard; (fn. 906) there was a
lime kiln in Back Lane in 1845. (fn. 907) There was a
tailor at Amesbury in 1364 (fn. 908) and in the 16th
century, (fn. 909) a clothworker in the 17th century, (fn. 910)
shoemakers in the 17th and 18th, (fn. 911) a chandler in
1612 (fn. 912) and c. 1735, (fn. 913) a soap boiler in 1755 (fn. 914) and
the 1790s. Members of the Hunt family made
clocks and watches from the 1790s (fn. 915) or earlier to
1855 or later, James Abrahams in 1859. (fn. 916) A
winnowing machine called the Amesbury heaver
was invented by John Trowbridge (d. 1823) of
Amesbury. (fn. 917) In the late 18th century and the
19th there were many tradesmen at Amesbury,
40–50 in the 1790s, c. 40 in 1865, c. 35 in 1898:
most businesses were connected with food and
drink, footwear and clothing, building, and
equipment for agriculture. In the later 19th
century Thomas Sandell was a breeches maker,
wholesale glover, tanner, and woolstapler. (fn. 918)

From c. 1900 many inhabitants of Amesbury
were employed in the army camps at Bulford
and Larkhill and at Boscombe Down, (fn. 919) and as
the town grew many were engaged in the retail,
motor, service, and building trades. (fn. 920) In the later
20th century c. 14 a. bounded by Porton Road,
London Road, and the course of the railway were
set aside for industry (fn. 921) and by 1993 had been
built on. Chaplin & Co., goods agents of the
London & South Western Railway, had premises in Amesbury, presumably from 1902, and
had built a warehouse in Salisbury Road by
1923. (fn. 922) Chaplin & Co. was bought in the 1930s
by the owners of Pickfords Ltd.: (fn. 923) the warehouse
was used by Pickfords as a furniture depository
until 1990, and was demolished in 1993. In 1990
Pickfords opened a warehouse on the new industrial land. (fn. 924) A warehouse for the NAAFI was
built beside the London road east of the station
in 1940; it was extended in 1970 and, to 211,000
square ft., in 1977. New offices were built in
1991–2, and in 1992 the NAAFI headquarters
was moved to Amesbury. In 1992 at Amesbury
the NAAFI had 170 employees in its warehouse,
330 in its offices. (fn. 925) Amesbury Transport Ltd.
moved from Salisbury Street to London Road
in the later 1950s, and soon after 1963 a new
warehouse was built for it on the site of the
station; other buildings nearby in London Road
were built or converted for the company, which
specialized in road haulage, warehousing, and
distribution and in 1992 had 48 employees. (fn. 926)
The Stonehenge Woollen Industry, a small company which was started at Lake House in
Wilsford in an attempt to prevent rural depopulation, made cloth from local wool in Amesbury
in the 1920s (fn. 927) and until 1932: its premises were
behind houses on the south-east side of High
Street. (fn. 928) Other companies to occupy premises on
the new industrial land were Ross Group plc,
makers of car alarms, and Haymills (Contractors) Ltd. The site of Stockport farmstead south
of the town was used for industry in the late
20th century. In 1993 a meat-processing company, a company dealing in flooring materials
wholesale, and a small engineering company had
premises there.

Local government.

Amesbury. In the Middle Ages Amesbury was sometimes called a
borough (fn. 929) and had what was called a guildhall, (fn. 930)
and in the mid 16th century the lord of the
hundred, who was also lord of Amesbury manor,
allowed an officer called the bailiff of the borough to attend some meetings of the hundred
court, (fn. 931) but the town never had an institution for
self government.

There is some evidence that there were two
tithings in the 12th century. (fn. 932) Later in the
Middle Ages the lord of Amesbury manor took
view of frankpledge at Amesbury and held a
manor court, (fn. 933) as did Amesbury priory. (fn. 934) In
1486–7, 1501–2, 1506–7, and 1511–12 on Amesbury manor the view was held twice a year, in
October and April, and the manor court seven
times a year. In 1503–4 and 1504–5 the manor
court was said to have been held 17 times a year,
either because it was or, as in legal principle it
was a three-weekly court, it should have been.
In 1535–6 the view was held twice, the manor
court five times. (fn. 935) At the Dissolution Amesbury
priory held its view and its manor court twice a
year; (fn. 936) the Crown held the courts at the same
frequency in 1539–40. (fn. 937)

From the mid 16th century such views and
courts continued to be held separately for the
Earldom and Priory manors, although the manors were in the same hands. (fn. 938) The boundaries of
the manors, and presumably the jurisdiction of
the courts, were defined in 1635–6: the Priory
manor included the site of the priory, the northwest side of High Street, the south side of the
market place, the west side of Frog Lane, and,
it was claimed, West Amesbury; the Earldom
manor included the rest of the town and parish
except Ratfyn, the lord having claimed jurisdiction over Countess Court manor from 1580 or
earlier. The guildhall or market house, in the
middle of the entrance to the market place from
High Street, stood on the boundary; (fn. 939) the courts
of each manor were presumably held in its
first-floor room from when it was built, as they
were until it was taken down in 1809. (fn. 940) The
records of the view (sometimes called the law
court, sometimes the court leet) and the manor
court (otherwise the court baron) of each manor
survive from 1566 to 1771, with gaps. In the
16th and 17th centuries the views continued to
be held twice a year, in spring and autumn; in
the 18th they were held yearly in autumn. They
were held on the same day as each other, each
in conjunction with a manor court; the records
show that at each matters under leet jurisdiction
were sometimes presented by an officer or
officers and sometimes by a jury, but that more
often a jury and the homage combined made a
single body of presentments under the articles
of both leet and manorial jurisdiction. Many of
Amesbury's affairs were dealt with in the views
and courts, and it is possible that twice a year a
single assembly met to discuss them, and that
only for the written record were its proceedings
classified into those of two views and two manor
courts.

To keep order the town had two constables,
one each for the Earldom and the Priory manors,
and four bailiffs, two to assist each constable.
All were appointed by the courts, although
from the later 17th century the constable nominated
his bailiffs. (fn. 941) When officers made presentments at a view it was usually the bailiffs. By
1727 each constable had been armed with a
watch bill, (fn. 942) one of which, of 1731 or earlier,
was in Salisbury museum in 1936. (fn. 943) New stocks
were made c. 1579, (fn. 944) and from 1660 orders
were made for a pillory and a cuckingstool to
be kept. (fn. 945)

Especially in the 16th and 17th centuries a
wide range of offences was dealt with. Some
offences were statutory, including playing unlawful games, (fn. 946) fishing with a net of a mesh
smaller than 2½ in., not wearing a woollen cap
on Sundays, not keeping a rook net, (fn. 947) not practising archery, (fn. 948) harbouring lodgers, (fn. 949) keeping
greyhounds and beagles when holding land
worth less than 40s., owning a fowling piece
when holding land worth less than £100, (fn. 950) and
failing to keep watch: for the last the statute of
Winchester was invoked in 1581. (fn. 951) Some matters
were the traditional business of the view, including assault, affray, reports that the hue had been
raised or a felony committed, and the swearing
of the oath of allegiance: one felony reported was
the suicide of Sir George Rodney. (fn. 952) The assizes
of bread and of ale were enforced, and in the
16th century and earlier 17th, when Amesbury
had several inns and alehouses and held a market
and fairs, (fn. 953) trade in food and drink was scrutinized generally. Bakers, brewers, wine sellers,
innkeepers, alehouse keepers, butchers, and
millers all came before the courts (fn. 954) either to pay
a fine equivalent to a licence to trade or for
misconduct. In 1580 an innkeeper allowed
strangers to frequent his inn at prohibited times
and the Earldom constable was authorized to
weigh bread once a month or more often. (fn. 955) In
1588 the Priory constable was ordered to weigh
bread once a week. (fn. 956) Overcharging and the use
of unsealed measures were frequently punished.
In 1603 innkeepers were required to show their
sealed measures in court. (fn. 957) In 1614 an inspector
of ale sold in the market was appointed. (fn. 958) From
the mid 17th century, however, the assizes were
enforced little in the courts, although the constables were still required to keep weights and
pint and quart measures. (fn. 959) The measures were
destroyed in the fire of 1751 and replaced c.
1759. (fn. 960)

Either under leet jurisdiction or as manorial
business the courts dealt with many public
nuisances. Orders to repair bridges, to make
chimneys safe, and to maintain watercourses
were frequent. In 1579 it was ordered that the
inhabitants of West Amesbury should repair one
arch of West bridge, those of the Priory manor
the rest of it; (fn. 961) in 1582 the inhabitants of the
Earldom manor were required to contribute. (fn. 962)
In 1590 a rate was imposed for the repair of Grey
bridge. (fn. 963) In 1580, presumably to lessen the risk
of fire, baking bread after 8 p.m. was forbidden, (fn. 964)
and in 1658 the churchwardens and overseers of
the parish were ordered to repair two dangerous
chimneys (fn. 965) presumably because the owner was
too poor to do so. In 1596 it was ordered that
the customary fall of the Avon, which had been
altered by the construction of a bay, should be
restored, (fn. 966) and unlawful fishing, in 1599 with
angling rods, (fn. 967) was often reported. Orders were
made to make safe or mend roads; (fn. 968) waymen were
in office in 1592, (fn. 969) surveyors of highways in
1658. (fn. 970) In 1614 a committee of seven, including
the two constables, was appointed to clear the
streets of timber and other rubbish, to direct the
cleaning of watercourses, and to check the safety
of chimneys and fireplaces. (fn. 971) Firecrooks were
kept in 1677. (fn. 972)

From the 16th century to the 18th normal
tenurial business was transacted in the court of
each manor, sometimes in courts not held in
conjunction with the view: the death of tenants
was presented, surrenders of and admissions to
copyholds were performed or reported, and
unlicensed undertenants were presented. A few
pleas of trespass or debt were heard. (fn. 973) Excluding
West Amesbury, the Priory manor contained
little agricultural land, (fn. 974) and the most frequent
presentments of its homage were related to the
dilapidation of buildings in the town: the condition of West Mill was of frequent concern. (fn. 975)
Presentments that agrarian custom had been
defined, refined, or infringed were normally
recorded as those of the homage of the Earldom
manor, and were sometimes made by the hayward. (fn. 976) Disputed or uncertain boundaries, use of
common pastures, maintenance of common
flocks and herds, and encroachment on common
land or the land of neighbours were all presented, the dispute with the men of Boscombe
over Blackcross down being the subject of several presentments. It was normal for the court
to hear that stray animals had been caught, that
the pound needed repair, that geese, ganders,
and unringed pigs had been at large, and that
hedges had not been made. (fn. 977) The court of each
manor appointed an agrarian watchman ('agrophilax') in the later 17th century. (fn. 978)

In the 17th century the presentment of statutory offences, the old offences of the view, and
offences under the assizes became less frequent,
the presentment of public nuisances and agrarian matters more so. In the 18th the courts'
business declined in amount and narrowed in
range. Copyhold business continued to be done
and officers appointed, orders were made to
amend public nuisances, to maintain buildings
and make chimneys safe, and agrarian custom
was defended, but from c. 1750 most presentment was stereotyped and the courts were of
little importance in local government. The last
was held in 1854. (fn. 979)

West Amesbury. In the 16th century and later
West Amesbury was said to be a single tithing
with Wilsford, although Wilsford was in Underditch hundred and was not a neighbour of West
Amesbury; (fn. 980) West Amesbury's partner was not
Wilsford but Normanton, (fn. 981) with which it had an
administrative link in 1377, and which lies between West Amesbury and Wilsford and was in
Durnford parish and Amesbury hundred. (fn. 982) The
tithingman of the tithing called West Amesbury
and Wilsford attended Amesbury hundred
court. (fn. 983) The lord of the Priory manor evidently
claimed jurisdiction over West Amesbury; (fn. 984) the
view of that manor ordered the inhabitants
of West Amesbury to choose a tithingman for
West Amesbury and Wilsford tithing in 1584, (fn. 985)
itself presented a man to be the tithingman in
1587, (fn. 986) and chose a tithingman in 1599, (fn. 987) but the
tithingman did not present at Amesbury courts
and no West Amesbury business was done in
them. (fn. 988)

Records of a court of West Amesbury manor
exist for a few years in the period 1491–1645.
The homage presented and the court transacted
tenurial and agrarian business, dealing in the
1490s with the overstocking of common pasture
with sheep, in the 1550s with the unsatisfactory
condition of a hedge, and in 1645 with the
arrangements for feeding cattle in common. The
manor had few tenants, there was little copyhold
business to be done, (fn. 989) and it is likely that few
courts were held after 1645.

The parish spent £205 on poor relief in 1775–
6, an average of £214 in the three years 1782–5.
It had no workhouse and all relief was outdoor.
The poor-rate was average for the hundred in
1802–3 when £845 was spent, only £7 of it on
materials to be used in employment: 60 adults
and 83 children were relieved regularly, 49
people occasionally; a further 52 who were relieved were not parishioners and were
presumably travellers. (fn. 990) Expenditure is known
to have exceeded £1,000 in only four years: in
1812–13, when it was £1,211, 118 adults were
relieved regularly, 11 occasionally, It reached a
peak of £1,310 in 1817–18, in the 1820s averaged £750, (fn. 991) and was £585 in 1834–5. The
parish became part of Amesbury poor-law union
in 1835, (fn. 992) of Salisbury district in 1974. (fn. 993)

Churches.

There was a church at Amesbury
from when the abbey was founded c. 979, (fn. 994) and
perhaps from before then. It is possible that St.
Mary was invoked in the abbey church from its
foundation and that St. Melor later became
co-patron when some of his relics were brought
to it. (fn. 995) The church is almost certain to have been
the only one at Amesbury and to have been open
to all inhabitants. When the abbey was dissolved
in 1177 the church of St. Mary and St. Melor,
evidently the abbey church, was granted to
Amesbury priory. (fn. 996) A new priory church was
built between then and 1186, (fn. 997) and the old
church apparently remained in use as the parish
church. (fn. 998) Later the brethren of the priory had
what is likely to have been a third church at
Amesbury. (fn. 999) The parish church was served by
chaplains, after the Reformation by curates: the
right to appoint them belonged to the owners of
the great tithes and was exercised by Amesbury
priory until the Dissolution, (fn. 1000) by the lessees of
the Rectory estate from the mid 16th century to
1630, and by St. George's chapel, Windsor, from
1630. (fn. 1001) From 1757, after the endowment of the
curacy, the curates were presented to the bishop
for institution. (fn. 1002) Under the Incumbents Act of
1868 the living became a vicarage, which remains in the gift of St. George's chapel. (fn. 1003)

Neither chaplains, curates, nor vicars were well
remunerated. At the Dissolution the chaplain's
stipend was £8: (fn. 1004) from 1541 it was a charge on
the Rectory estate, (fn. 1005) and it had been increased
to £15 by 1612, £20 by 1623, and £40 by 1660.
From 1612 a house on the Rectory estate was
reserved for use by the curate, and from 1630
St. George's chapel allowed him to take the
oblations and some small tithes. (fn. 1006) The tithes
were later replaced by a modus of 6d. for each
cow and each calf kept in the parish. (fn. 1007) The living
was augmented by the state in the Interregnum, (fn. 1008) and six times in the period 1730–1829.
Queen Anne's Bounty gave 8 a. in Hungerford
(Berks.) in 1808 and met benefactions in 1730
and 1829, money was granted by parliament in
1814 by lot and in 1824 to meet benefactions, (fn. 1009)
and Susanna Bundy (d. 1828) gave by will the
income from £500; (fn. 1010) at £141, however, the
curate's income remained lowc. 1830. (fn. 1011) The
modus was commuted to a rent charge of £1 in
1847. (fn. 1012) The Ecclesiastical Commissioners augmented the vicarage in 1880 and 1881, (fn. 1013) and in
1881 the capital of Bundy's charity was spent on
a new vicarage house. (fn. 1014) The 8 a. given in 1808
were sold in 1919. (fn. 1015) The curate had no glebe in
Amesbury apart from his house, which stood
very near the north-east corner of the church. (fn. 1016)
A house apparently of the mid or later 16th
century (fn. 1017) was enlarged in 1824 and 1859. (fn. 1018) It was
demolished when Wyndersham House on the
south-east side of Church Street, formerly a
school and later the Antrobus Arms, was bought
as the vicarage house in 1881. (fn. 1019) In 1916–17 that
house was sold and a new one was built a little
east of the church. (fn. 1020) That in turn was sold in
1992, when a new vicarage house was built in its
garden. (fn. 1021)

Three lights and an obit in the church were
endowed in the Middle Ages. (fn. 1022) A Bible was
bought in 1539–40. (fn. 1023) In 1553, when Stephen
Lyons was curate, no sermon had been preached
for a year, (fn. 1024) and in the 1580s quarterly sermons
were not preached. (fn. 1025) The curate, Uriah Banks,
signed the Concurrent Testimony in 1648 (fn. 1026) and
preached twice every Sunday in 1650. (fn. 1027) In 1662,
when Thomas Holland was curate, many parishioners were consistently absent from church, and
the church had no Book of Homilies and no copy
of Jewell's Apology. (fn. 1028) Holland, said to be a good
scholar and a painful preacher, was curate 1660–
80, and his son Thomas, who in 1716 sought a
patent for a water-raising device for use in
agriculture and industry, was curate 1680–
1730. (fn. 1029) In 1783 the curate, Henry Richards, did
not reside. His deputy, also curate of Allington,
held two services every Sunday and services on
Christmas day, Good Friday, and fast and
thanksgiving days; he celebrated communion
thrice a year with c. 25 communicants and
catechized once or twice in Lent. (fn. 1030) F. W. Fowle,
curate 1817–68, vicar 1868–76, was also rector
of Allington but lived at Amesbury. He too held
services every Sunday, and on Census Sunday
in 1851 had a congregation, excluding schoolchildren, of 194 in the morning and of 323 in
the afternoon. Before the church was restored in
1852–3 he complained that it had too little
accommodation for the poor. In 1864 he
preached only at the afternoon services on Sundays. Morning services were also held on
Wednesdays, Fridays, and saints' days but, except in Lent, were poorly attended; additional
services were held on Christmas day and Good
Friday. Communion, then with c. 70 communicants, was celebrated monthly and at Christmas,
Easter, and Whitsun. (fn. 1031)

A chapel, with an altar dedicated to All Saints,
stood at Ratfyn in the early 15th century. Amesbury priory was responsible for providing a
chaplain to hold services every Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday; the inhabitants of Ratfyn had
all rights in their chapel except baptism and
burial. A silver-gilt chalice was among the
chapel's goods. In 1412 the priory was providing
too few services and the inhabitants were neglecting the building. (fn. 1032) A remark by William
Cobbett in 1826 that its porch would accommodate all the inhabitants suggests that the chapel
was standing then. (fn. 1033) Cobbett's remark deserves
little credence, and the chapel, the site of which
may have been Church close a little south of
Ratfyn Farm, (fn. 1034) is likely to have been demolished
long before 1826.

The church of ST. MARY AND ST.
MELOR, apparently the church of the abbey
dissolved in 1177, is of rubble and ashlar, is
cruciform, and has a chancel, a central tower, a
north transept with east chapel, a south transept,
and a clerestoried nave with south aisle. (fn. 1035) The
nave is of the earlier 12th century and is generally plain; east of it the crossing, transepts, and
chancel were built in the early 13th century. At
its north-west corner the nave is joined to the
early 13th-century remains of what was evidently a gatehouse, probably a south-west gate
of the priory, and a lean-to passage against the
outside of the north wall of the nave apparently
linked the north transept and the gatehouse. In
the 13th century the north transept had two east
chapels. The east part of the southern and
smaller one had a door to the chancel and served
as a chancel vestry: in the 14th century the
chapel was demolished and the doorway replaced by a four-light window. At the same time
a window of similar size was inserted at the
centre of the south wall of the chancel. The south
transept also had an east chapel in the 13th
century. In the late 15th the chapel was rebuilt
and, possibly slightly earlier, the nave aisle was
built: the south wall of the chapel was aligned
with that of the aisle. Also in the late 15th
century much of the church was reroofed and a
new east window and a new west window were
inserted. In 1721, when a new doorway and two
new windows were inserted in it, (fn. 1036) the south wall
of the south transept may have been completely
rebuilt; the transept's chapel had been demolished by 1803. (fn. 1037) In 1852–3 the church was
restored to designs by William Butterfield, who
evidently intended to remove all features later
thanc. 1400. The east window was replaced by
one in 13th-century style, and a new more
steeply pitched roof was made over the chancel;
the tower staircase was removed from the north
transept, the chapel of which was converted to
a vestry, and in the angle of the chancel and the
transept a new staircase and a boilerhouse were
built; in the south transept the early 18thcentury windows were replaced by lancets similar
to the 13th-century ones in the north wall of
the north transept, and the doorway was replaced
by one in 13th-century style; the west wall of the
nave was largely rebuilt, and the window in it
was re-formed as three double lancets. Nearly
all the furnishings, including a west gallery,
a 15th-century rood screen, and an early 13thcentury font, were removed from the church. (fn. 1038)
In 1905 the church was structurally restored
under the direction of C. E. Ponting and
Detmar Blow, (fn. 1039) and in 1907 some of the furnishings removed in 1852–3, including the screen
and the font, were replaced. (fn. 1040)

In 1553 a 14-oz. chalice was left in the parish
and 16 oz. of plate were taken for the king. A
gilt plate was given by John Rose (d. 1677). In
1852–3 all the church plate was melted down and
used in new plate consisting of two chalices of
parcel gilt, a paten, a flagon, and an almsdish. (fn. 1041)

There were four bells in 1553. (fn. 1043) The ring was
increased to six, most likely in either 1619 or
1728, and later comprised two bells cast by John
Wallis in 1619, one cast by Clement Tosier in
1713 and recast by John Warner & Sons in 1881,
one cast by John Cor in 1728, one by a Cor
between c. 1710 and 1740, and one by John
Wells in 1801. (fn. 1044) In 1905 the bells were rehung
in a frame large enough for eight, and in 1946
the ring was increased to eight by two trebles
cast by Taylor of Loughborough (Leics.). (fn. 1045)

There are registrations of baptisms 1624–40
and from 1660, of burials 1610–36 and from
1660, and of marriages 1610–39 and from 1661.
In each case there are a few entries for earlier
years; baptisms are lacking for 1809–10, burials
for 1808–10. (fn. 1047)

In 1931 a wooden church, dedicated to the
HOLY ANGELS, was built beside Main Road
to serve Boscombe Down. (fn. 1048)

Roman Catholicism.

From 1794 to
1800 an English convent of Augustinian canonesses driven from Louvain (Brabant) by the
French Revolution lived in Amesbury Abbey. (fn. 1049)
A Roman Catholic church was opened in London Road in 1933; (fn. 1050) chapels in several other
parishes, including Ludgershall and Figheldean,
were later served from it, (fn. 1051) and a priest lived at
Amesbury. (fn. 1052) The church was replaced in 1985 (fn. 1053)
by a new church of red brick.

Protestant nonconformity.

Bap-tists lived at Amesbury in the 1650s, and a
conventicle run by the Baptist chapel at Porton
was held there. (fn. 1054) In the 1660s and 1670s members of the Long family of West Amesbury were
Baptists: in 1662 William Long and his wife
Alice promised to attend church 'as soon as God
shall make them able', and in 1672 Thomas
Long's house was licensed for meetings. (fn. 1055) There
were 10 protestant nonconformists in the parish
in 1676, (fn. 1056) and Thomas Long remained one in
1683. (fn. 1057) A Quaker meeting house was licensed in
1719, and Independent ones in 1766, 1776,
1795, and 1815. (fn. 1058)

John Wesley preached at Amesbury in 1779
and 1785, (fn. 1059) and in 1806 a Methodist meeting
house was licensed. A Methodist chapel had
been built by 1816, and other Methodist meeting
houses were licensed in 1816 and 1819. The
chapel was relicensed in 1838, (fn. 1060) possibly after
alterations; (fn. 1061) it stood behind buildings on the
north-west side of High Street, (fn. 1062) and on Census
Sunday in 1851 congregations of 96 and 100,
excluding schoolchildren, attended morning and
evening service respectively. (fn. 1063) In 1864 the curate
of Amesbury described the Wesleyans as proselytizing and very active. (fn. 1064) The chapel and its
schoolroom were burnt down in 1899. A new
chapel, of red brick and in middle Gothic style,
was built to front the north-west side of High
Street in 1900; (fn. 1065) a new schoolroom was built
behind it in 1931–2, (fn. 1066) and a hall was built in
1961. (fn. 1067) The chapel remained open in 1993.

A Primitive Methodist chapel, small and of
corrugated iron, was built in Flower Lane between 1899 and 1910. It had been closed by
1922. (fn. 1068)

Education.

A schoolmaster may have lived
at Amesbury in the early 16th century. (fn. 1069)

Rose's school was founded in 1677 by John
Rose. It was to be kept 'on the south side of the
parish church of Amesbury', where a school was
formerly kept, presumably in the south transept.
Rose gave land at Ditcheat (Som.), and provided
for a master to be paid £30 a year to teach
grammar, writing, and arithmetic: the pupils, up
to 20 in number, were to be aged between 9 and
15, of the poorest inhabitants of Amesbury, and
able to read and to recite the catechism. If
income was sufficient a teacher was to be employed to prepare children for the grammar
school. (fn. 1070) One of the first masters, 1688–91, was
the diarist Thomas Naish, subdean of Salisbury
from 1694; the suggestion that one of his pupils
was Joseph Addison, founder of the Spectator,
may be invalid because Addison's father was
neither poor nor resident in Amesbury. (fn. 1071) Only
six boys were taught in the grammar school in
1818: none was of the poorest parents in the
parish because, by the time they were 9 years
old, most such children were already in paid
employment, and children of mechanics, tradesmen, and artisans were admitted. About then
Rose's trustees opened a preparatory school, at
which 20 children were taught by a mistress paid
£21 a year. Each school was held in the teacher's
house. A house, formerly the Jockey inn, on the
south-east side of High Street, was bought in
1807, and from 1831 was used as a school and
schoolhouse for the grammar school. In 1833
that school had 6–13 pupils, of poor, but not the
poorest, parents, and the master also taught six
fee- paying pupils in the school; children aged 4
were admitted to the preparatory school, which
boys left at 9 and girls at 11 or 12. The two
schools were merged between 1833 and 1854. (fn. 1072)
In 1858 a master, who was paid £30, and a
mistress, who was paid £20, taught a total of
only 10 children. (fn. 1073) By 1867 Rose's had become
an elementary school for boys; in 1872 it was
attended by 19, for 4 of whom fees were paid.
Later it was again mixed, and most of the 36
pupils in 1891 were girls. (fn. 1074) The school was closed
in 1899. In 1900 its endowments were sold: an
annuity was bought for the teacher, money was
contributed to the building of a new National
school, and Rose's Higher Education Fund was
set up. (fn. 1075) From 1906 the fund was managed with
Harrison's charity to provide exhibitions at certain schools and bursaries for pupil-teachers and
for those attending training college. By Schemes
of 1953 and 1972 payments to help maintain the
fabric of Amesbury Church of England school
were permitted, and by the Scheme of 1972 and
one of 1980 the educational purposes of the
charities were widened. (fn. 1076)

By will proved 1709 Henry Spratt of Southwark
(Surr.) gave money for 15 boys and 15 girls to
be taught English and the catechism: regular
attendance was required although absence for
harvest work was permitted. Spratt's school
was opened in 1711, the master was paid £20
a year, a building was said to have been erected
c. 1715, and in 1718 the endowment was used
to buy land in Amesbury. (fn. 1077) In 1818 the school
had a mistress paid £44 a year and 45 pupils. (fn. 1078)
In 1832, when they were taught in the mistress's house, children were admitted aged 3–4
and left aged c. 9. (fn. 1079) Spratt's continued as an
elementary school kept in the teacher's house;
there were only 16 pupils in 1858, 27 in 1872. (fn. 1080)
The school was closed in 1896: from 1821 until
then each of the three successive teachers was
a Miss Zillwood. The endowment was sold in
1900: an annuity was bought for the teacher
and a contribution given to the building of the
National school. (fn. 1081)

In addition to Rose's and Spratt's, two small
schools in Amesbury had a total of 21 pupils in
1818. (fn. 1082) They were apparently closed when a
National school was started in 1825. The National school was attended by 17 boys and 47
girls in 1833: (fn. 1083) it was probably the school in
Amesbury run in the 1830s on the pupil-teacher
system devised by Joseph Lancaster. (fn. 1084) An infants' school was started in 1841. (fn. 1085) In 1846–7 the
National school, attended by 44, and the infants'
school, attended by 64, each had a schoolroom
and a teacher's house: (fn. 1086) the buildings were those
in Salisbury Street in use until 1900. (fn. 1087) In 1858
an additional classroom was in use in each
school, (fn. 1088) and in 1867 average attendance was
70–80 at the National school, 50–60 at the
infants' school. An evening school was held in
winter from the 1850s to the 1870s; average
attendance in 1866–7 was 47, of whom two
thirds were over 12. (fn. 1089) There was a school at the
union workhouse in Salisbury Road in the 1850s,
when 30–40 attended it, (fn. 1090) but children from the
workhouse later went to other schools in Amesbury. (fn. 1091)

In 1901, after Rose's, Spratt's, and the workhouse schools had been closed, the National and
infants' schools were replaced by a new National
school, with five classrooms and five teachers,
built in Back Lane: in 1902–3 the new school
had 203 pupils, including 70 infants. (fn. 1092) Average
attendance was 182 in 1906, (fn. 1093) 212 in 1927. (fn. 1094) In
1928 a county infants' school was built behind
the police station, (fn. 1095) and the National school
became Amesbury Church of England school;
average attendance in 1937–8 was respectively
134 and 171. (fn. 1096) Two new classrooms were added
to the infants' school in 1933. (fn. 1097) In the 1930s a
fund was raised to provide a Church of England
secondary school at Amesbury; a site was bought
in 1938, but no school was built. (fn. 1098) The Church
of England school was enlarged in 1957; Amesbury secondary modern school, on the site off
Antrobus Road bought in 1938, was opened in
1958 and enlarged in 1960–1; the infants'
school was enlarged in 1962; (fn. 1099) a Roman Catholic
primary school, Christ the King school in Earls
Court Road, was opened in 1964. (fn. 1100) The secondary modern school, renamed Stonehenge school,
became a comprehensive school in 1974. (fn. 1101) In
1991, 141 pupils, aged 5–7, attended Amesbury Infants' school; 236, aged 5–11,
attended Christ the King school; 250, aged
7–11, attended Amesbury Church of England
school; 405, aged 11–16, attended Stonehenge
school. (fn. 1102)

From 1839 or earlier to 1867 or later Caroline
Browne held a school for young ladies: it was
a day school in 1842, a boarding school in 1855
and later. (fn. 1103) Several small schools were held in
the later 19th century. At one, a preparatory
school held from c. 1867 to c. 1880 by the
Revd. Arthur Meyrick in Wyndersham
House, (fn. 1104) later the Vicarage and the Antrobus
Arms, (fn. 1105) Walter Long (cr. Viscount Long 1921)
was a pupil. (fn. 1106) Avondale school, a preparatory
school opened in 1923, was held in Countess
Farm by F. A. Perks; it moved to Bulford in
1957. (fn. 1107) Downlands school in Stonehenge Road
was held in the 1950s by Eleanor F. B. Cowmeadow. (fn. 1108)

Charities for the poor.

In 1601 Hugh
Atwill gave 33s. 4d. as a stock to provide work
for the poor of Amesbury, among whom the
profits of the work were to be distributed. No
more is known of the fund. (fn. 1109)

Richard Harrison by will gave money for
apprenticing boys of 12–16 who were sons of
Amesbury's second poor and had attended
Rose's or Spratt's school. Apprenticing evidently began c. 1727. Land in Allington was
bought in 1780–1, and the charity's income was
£11 in 1786. Between 1827 and 1832 nine boys
were apprenticed, not all from the two schools.
In 1881 £230 accumulated income was invested,
in the 1890s three boys were apprenticed, and
in 1904 the charity's income was £25. (fn. 1110) From
1906 the charity was managed with Rose's
Higher Education Fund. (fn. 1111) The land, 21 a., was
sold between 1910 and 1925. (fn. 1112)

1035. Description based partly on J. Buckler, watercolours
in W.A.S. Libr., vol. i. 3, for one of which, see below, plate
facing p. 234; other illustrations and plans are in Churches
of SE. Wilts. (R.C.H.M.), 103–7.